Avalanche Forecast

Fair

Looks pretty pleasant Monday and Tuesday. The freezing level should stay at the valley bottom, there will likely be periods of sunshine and winds should be light at all elevations. The next storm system starts to affect the region Tuesday night. This one is a bit warmer, the freezing level should increase to around 1500m, winds are once again expected to be extreme SW at ridgetop and 5 to 10cm are expected Tuesday Night. Look for another 5 to 15cm Wednesday and another 5 to 15cm Wednesday night.

Scanning the facebook posts it sounds like at least two folks were involved in avalanches Saturday.  Control work Saturday produced slab and loose dry avalanches to size 2.5 from virtually all aspects and elevations. It sounds like a lot of these were running on mid storm instabilities.

The NW Coast is THE place to be in the province right now. Arctic air has kept things cool and the snow totals are substantial. The storm produced 50 to 100cm accompanied by screaming winds out of the E through SE. Initial observations are limited, but there are reports of 75 cm of wind affected snow at and above treeline. The late-January crust is thought to be down 50 to 150cm in the south of the region and about half this depth in the north. This crust may have surface hoar on it. The mid-January rain crust and/or surface hoar layer is down over 150cm in the south and has generally become inactive though it may still be a concern in thinner snowpack areas. The November crust/facet combo near the bottom of the snowpack is thought to be generally well bonded but may still be reactive in the far north of the region.