South Coast

Careful terrain and route selection are needed with all the new snow and strong winds.

Fair - Due to the number and quality of field observations

This Pacific cold front should pass through the South Coast Inland and head east towards the Columbias by late Saturday afternoon followed by a brief break in the weather early Sunday.  Sunday afternoon will see another "pulse" of moisture, although less intense than the last one and may leave 10-15cm of snow at elevations above 1000m. Moderate to strong winds above 1500m will accompany this system.

A few natural slabs have been reported that are supected to have occurred in the past 24 hrs, most likely during the height of the recent wind, snow, and warm temperature event. Also a natural size 2 initiated by a cornice failure , 20 to 30cm thick, and running on an old sruct.  A few wet snow avalanches have been reported occurring on solar aspects. Cloudy skies may keep the surface from overnight freezing and rising temperatures may increase the likelihood of loose wet avalanches and cornice failures.

Incoming precipitation will fall on a variety of old snow surfaces that exist throughout the region. There are numerous crusts and old wind slabs buried in the snowpack above treeline that may still be problematic but below treeline the snowpack has had numerous warming and rain events and should be bombproof for the most part. Rain has recently been reported to ridge tops in the Coquihalla region. Solar aspects are reported to be going isothermal in some areas below 1600m