Forecast updated 12:00 Tuesday.An unusual weak layer makes steep and convex terrain features particularly dangerous.
Summary
Confidence
Moderate - Due to the number of field observations
Weather Forecast
MONDAY NIGHT: Cloudy, moderate northwest wind, alpine temperatures drop to -6 C.TUESDAY: Cloudy with light flurries, accumulations of 3-8 cm, moderate northwest wind, alpine high temperatures around -3 C.WEDNESDAY: Mix of sun and cloud, light north wind, freezing level climbing to 900 m, alpine high temperatures around 0 C.THURSDAY: Mostly sunny, light northeast wind, alpine high temperatures around -2 C.
Avalanche Summary
Storm slab avalanches may still be possible to trigger as they slowly bond to underlying crusts.On Monday, search and rescue responded to an avalanche in the Mount Seymour backcountry. The avalanche occurred on a steep feature at treeline elevation
(see photo here). At the time of publishing there limited details about this avalanche.Over the weekend, a few whumpfs and small (size 1) skier triggered avalanches were reported. On Friday, widespread avalanche activity was reported in the North Shore mountains. Ski cutting produced numerous small (size 1) slab avalanches in the top 30 cm of snow, as well a few notable larger avalanches (up to size 2.5). These avalanches showed impressive propagation, with some being triggered remotely (from a distance) and on a few occasions stepping down to a 50 cm deep crust layer.
Snowpack Summary
30-50 cm of recent storm snow is slowly bonding to underlying crust layers. Because of the recent cold temperatures and weak snow around the crusts, storm slabs are expected to take longer than usual to strengthen. New sun crusts may be found near the surface of south-facing aspects, while wind slabs may be found in exposed terrain. The lower snowpack is settled and strong.
jfloyer,
Avalanche Canada
