Avalanche Forecast

Issued: Dec 5th, 2018 4:17PM

The alpine rating is moderate, the treeline rating is low, and the below treeline rating is low. Known problems include Loose Wet.

cgarritty, Avalanche Canada

South Coast.

Can't have avalanches if you don't have snow. Watch for sunshine promoting surface instabilities if you're planning a mission to the alpine on Thursday.

Summary

Confidence

Moderate - Due to the number of field observations

Weather Forecast

Wednesday night: Clear. Light northwest winds. Thursday: Sunny. Light northeast winds. Alpine high temperatures around +1 with freezing levels to 2000 metres.Friday: Clear skies in the morning, becoming cloudy over the day. Light southeast winds. Alpine high temperatures around -2 with freezing level falling to 1300 metres.Saturday: Cloudy with flurries bringing about 5 cm of new snow. Light southeast winds. Alpine high temperatures around -2 with freezing levels to 1300 metres.

Avalanche Summary

No avalanches have been reported. Please submit any observations you have to the Mountain Information Network here.

Snowpack Summary

The South Coast region currently holds a minimal snowpack that remains well below threshold depth for avalanches in the North Shore mountains as well as below about 1500 metres everywhere else. Alpine areas near Squamish have the most snow, with a suspected 70 cm of settled snow on the ground. In these areas there may be a crust lower in the snowpack, however it is now suspected to be well bonded to the overlying storm snow.

Problems

Loose Wet

Warm temperatures and strong sunshine will tend to destabillize surface snow and promote loose wet avalanche activity on sun-exposed slopes again on Thursday. Loose wet slides may occur naturally or with a human trigger.

Minimize exposure to steep, sun exposed slopes when the solar radiation is strong.Be aware that low-angle December sun tends to focus radiation on steeper slopes.

Aspects: South East, South, South West, West.

Elevations: Alpine.

Likelihood

Possible - Likely

Expected Size

1 - 1.5

Valid until: Dec 6th, 2018 2:00PM