Avalanche Forecast
Regions: Boundary, East Stikine, Kitimat, Nass, Ningunsaw, Northwest Coastal, Rupert, Seven Sisters, Shames, Stewart, West Stikine.
Avalanches are becoming harder to trigger but are most likely to fail on steep, wind-loaded slopes, particularly near ridgetops.
Confidence
Moderate
Avalanche Summary
Sunday: A few small natural and explosive-triggered wind slabs occurred north of Stewart. Saturday: In the same area, one small and one large (size 2) naturally triggered avalanche were observed.
These wind slabs should quickly become less reactive to human-triggering as time passes.
Early season reports have been extremely limited, especially in areas near Terrace. Please consider submitting your observations to the Mountain Information Network.
Snowpack Summary
Strong easterly winds formed slabs on many lee slopes. The greatest uncertainty lies in how long these slabs will take to bond.
Expect to find sastrugi and hard wind-scoured surfaces in most open wind-exposed areas at upper elevations.
New surface hoar and facets are growing on the snow surface in wind-sheltered locations.A rain crust from early November is buried 50 to 100 cm deep in the alpine. In isolated, sheltered areas, a layer of surface hoar may be found 60 cm+ deep.Snow depths vary across the region, but generally range from 100 to 200 cm in the alpine and about 50 cm at 1000 m.
Weather Summary
Sunday Night
Mostly clear. 20 to 30 km/h east wind. Treeline temperature -12 °C.
Monday
Mostly sunny. 15 to 20 km/h variable wind. Treeline temperature -9 °C
Tuesday
A mix of sun and cloud. 30 to 40 km/h west wind. Treeline temperature -8 °C.
Wednesday
Cloudy with 1 to 7 cm of new snow. 40 to 50 km/h west wind. Treeline temperature -6 °C.
More details can be found in the Mountain Weather Forecast.
Terrain and Travel Advice
- Watch for areas of hard wind slab on alpine features.
- Seek out sheltered terrain where new snow hasn't been affected by wind.
Avalanche Problems
Wind Slabs
Strong easterly winds formed slabs on many leeward slopes. The greatest uncertainty lies in how long these slabs will take to bond. It's a good idea to investigate how well the windblown snow has bonded before entering committing terrain.
Aspects: North, South, South West, West, North West.
Elevations: Alpine, Treeline.
Likelihood: Unlikely - Possible
Expected Size: 1 - 2