Avalanche forecast

South Coast

Feb 13 – 14, 2017Avalanche Canada
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Avalanche danger

Tue
Wed
Alpine
2 · Moderate
Treeline
1 · Low
Below
1 · Low
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Highlights

Avoid steep sun-exposed slopes during the heat of the day. Don't let your guard down with warm temperatures and sunny skies.

Avalanche problems

  • Storm Slabs

    • Alpine
    • Treeline
    • Below treeline
    Likelihood
    Possible
    Size
    1–2
    Treeline and above on northerly aspects will have small storm slabs (in some places sitting on a crust). Storm slabs in the alpine will be possibly more reactive than shown here, especially on northerly aspects.

  • Loose Wet

    • Alpine
    • Treeline
    • Below treeline
    Likelihood
    Possible - Likely
    Size
    1–2
    Just because it's mild out doesn't mean you can get complacent: Avoid steep sun-exposed slopes during the heat of the day.

Confidence

Moderate - Intensity of incoming weather systems is uncertain

Weather Forecast

Change is coming on Tuesday evening and then very wet on Wednesday - Thursday. TUESDAY: Mostly cloudy with rain beginning in the evening / High temperatures to +6 Celsius / Strong southerly winds (50-70 Km/hr) / Freezing level around 2800 m. WEDNESDAY: Rain (60-100mm) / Strong southerly winds becoming moderate / Freezing level around 2200m. THURSDAY: Rain (30-50mm) / Moderate southeasterly winds / Freezing level around 1900 m.

Avalanche Summary

No new observed.

Snowpack Summary

The snow from late last week (15-25cm) has consolidated well at treeline and below. This makes 50-70 cm of cumulative storm snow which so far has been bonding well to a knife hard crust buried Feb 3rd. That said, recent snowpack tests near Cypress ski area gave sudden planar, propagation-likely results down 70cm on the Feb 3rd widespread crust layer. This may become a sliding layer on Wednesday with the heavy rain.In the alpine, where all of the precipitation has fallen as snow, the storm slabs have taken longer to settle out and still are a concern: Dig down to test the bond of the more recent snow layers. The mid and lower snowpack are settled and well bonded with the average snowpack depth at treeline 250-300 cm.

Regions covered