Avalanche Forecast

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Snow and strong - extreme winds from the West will persist overnight and into Saturday with coastal regions seeing the brunt of the storm as it tapers by the time it reaches the Interior. The centre of the low will weaken over the Gulf of Alaska while most of the BC coastal regions stay unsettled. An arctic front will push its way towards the BC North Coast on Sunday afternoon and strong outflow winds are expected through coastal inlets during this period. Saturday/ Sunday: Freezing levels valley bottom with alpine temps near -9.0. Trace amounts of new snow and ridgetop winds moderate-strong from the West. Monday: Mix of sun and cloud with alpine temps dropping to -15.0. Ridgetop winds light-moderate from the southeast.

No new avalanches have been reported in the past few days, but observations are currently very limited in this region. Watch for the development of wind slabs. Cracking, whumphing and natural avalanche activity are very good indicators of unstable snow.

New snow combined with strong winds have likely formed touchy wind slabs on lee features. A layer of surface hoar was reported around Hudson Bay Mountain last week, which now likely sits beneath 20-30 cm of settling snow. Wind slabs may be extra touchy above preserved surface hoar. A thick rain crust that formed in early November is now buried 40-50 cm deep, and recent snowpack tests produced sudden results on facets (sugary snow) above this crust. Early season snowpack observations are still limited in the region, but reports suggest the average snowpack depth is 50-90 cm at treeline and 120 cm or greater in the alpine.