Avalanche Forecast

November 10 Update:

10-25 cm of new snow should cover the Northwest ranges Thursday evening through to Friday afternoon. Precipitation is expected to strongly favour coastal areas and strong to extreme winds will accompany it, at least in the alpine. The new snow buries previously heavily wind affected surfaces in the alpine and more open lower elevations, including exposed crust and rock in many areas. This surface snow, as well as the snowpack as a whole, has been becoming weak and faceted as a result of this week's cold temperatures. This suggests that the new snow will bond poorly over the near term.

In sheltered areas, a weak layer of surface hoar likely remains preserved 15-25 cm deep. At mid and lower elevations, it could overlie a melt-freeze crust that would increase its sensitivity to triggering.

Another 50-60 cm-deep layer of surface hoar reported to be reactive two weeks ago in the Ashman area likely also remains preserved to some degree. Although avalanche activity as a result of incoming weather is expected to remain for the most part limited to new snow, both of these layers are still worth investigating for their presence, depth, and reactivity as the new load is introduced.

Total snowpack depths of 90-150 cm can now be found at alpine elevations, tapering to around 80 cm at lower treeline. Snowpack depths are generally greatest toward the north and west of the region  The snowpack in many below treeline areas remains below threshold depth for avalanches.

See the Mountain Weather Forecast to help you plan your early winter trips.