Avalanche Forecast

Good

Synopsis: A ridge of high pressure and northwesterly flow should result in drier and cooler weather for the next couple days. A weak system could affect the South Coast on Saturday bringing light snow. Thursday: Clearing throughout the day. Light northerly winds. Treeline temperatures are around -6.Friday: Mostly sunny. Light northerly winds. Treeline temperatures around -8.Saturday: A chance of flurries. The freezing level remains near valley bottom.

Reports from Wednesday only started to trickle in by the time this was published. One area north of Pemberton reported a widespread natural avalanche cycle with a couple events up to size 3. It is very likely that other areas also saw a large and widespread avalanche cycle in response to heavy snow and strong winds.

Approximately 85 cm of snow fell at the Coquihalla Pass by Wednesday morning. The Duffy Lake area also received significant snowfall with approximately 40 cm being reported. Weaknesses exist within this recent storm snow as well as at the interface with the previous snow surface, which includes large surface hoar, facets, old hard wind slabs, or a sun crust. Recent compression tests on a north aspect below treeline gave several sudden planar (pops) results in the top 100 cm. No significant weaknesses have been reported recently below this in the mid snowpack layers. Near the base of the snowpack, a crust/facet layer exists, which is now unlikely to be triggered, except perhaps by heavy triggers in steep, shallow, rocky terrain where more facetting has taken place.