Avalanche Forecast
Regions: Northwest Coastal.
The main concern will be wind slabs in high elevation lee terrain on Sunday.
Confidence
Low - Due to the number of field observations
Weather Forecast
SATURDAY night: Mainly cloudy with isolated flurries / light to moderate south wind / alpine high temperature -5 / freezing level 700 m
SUNDAY: Mainly cloudy with flurries, accumulation 5 cm / moderate south winds / alpine high temperature -3 C, freezing level 1000 m
MONDAY: Snow at upper elevations, accumulation 10-20 cm / moderate southwest wind / alpine high temperature -2 C / freezing level 1400 m
TUESDAY: Mainly cloudy with sunny breaks / light southwest wind / alpine high temperature -3 / freezing level 1100 m
Avalanche Summary
No new avalanches have been reported in the region. Please submit your observations to the Mountain Information Network.
Snowpack Summary
20-40 cm of new snow fell through the last week. Moderate to strong southwest winds are expected to have formed reactive wind slabs with the new snow over the same time period. This new snow sits on a 5 to 10 cm melt freeze crust except for high elevation north aspects.
A crust that formed in early April crust down 30 to 100 cm on high elevation north facing slopes. Surface hoar and facets were previously observed on this crust and it recently produced sudden results in snowpack tests. At lower elevations, ongoing warm weather has been promoting isothermal snowpack conditions and melting the snowpack away.
Avalanche Problems
Wind Slabs
Recent moderate to strong winds likely packed much of the recent new snow into wind slabs in the lee of terrain features.
- Use caution around recently wind loaded features, especially if they are being warmed by the sun.
- Look for signs of instability. Shooting cracks and recent avalanches indicate unstable conditions.
Aspects: North, North East, East, South East, North West.
Elevations: Alpine, Treeline.
Likelihood: Possible
Expected Size: 1 - 2