Avalanche forecast

Northwest Coastal

Apr 5 – 6, 2015Avalanche Canada
View on map
Archived · expired 11 years ago

Avalanche danger

Tue
Wed
Alpine
2 · Moderate
Treeline
2 · Moderate
Below
1 · Low
Open full map

Highlights

Hazard may increase with daytime warming especially on slopes affected by solar input. Cornice features should be regarded with care.If you have observations to share, please tell us what you've seen here on the mountain information network

Avalanche problems

  • Persistent Slabs

    • Alpine
    • Treeline
    • Below treeline
    Likelihood
    Possible
    Size
    1–4
    The March 25th layer is now buried up to 40 cm down in some areas and still has the ability to produce avalanches that propagate over wide areas.

  • Storm Slabs

    • Alpine
    • Treeline
    • Below treeline
    Likelihood
    Possible - Likely
    Size
    1–3
    Recent reports speak to this storm slab being reactive, especially where it may have been redistributed by winds.

Avalanche Summary

No recent reports of avalanches have been received

Confidence

Fair - Due to the number and quality of field observations

Weather Forecast

No precipitation in the forecast for the next few days. Daytime warming will bring freezing levels to around 1300m for the forecast period. Alpine winds are expected to be light from the E-SE.

Snowpack Summary

Recent storm snow varies across the forecast area, with the biggest accumulations near the coast. With warming temperatures the storm snow is bonding slowly to the variety of old snow surfaces including a layer of surface hoar and facets buried on March 25th. This weakness, now down approximately 40 to 60cm has been touchy with a high propensity for propagating fractures. The problems seems more touchy in the northern part of the region, but has been reported throughout the northwest coastal area. Weaknesses have also been found within the recent storm snow with snowpack tests producing moderate sudden results in the top 20 to 40cm. The early March facet/crust persistent weakness is now down around a metre and appears unreactive with snowpack tests.

Regions covered