Avalanche Forecast

Fair - Due to variable weather conditions

Moderate to heavy snowfall is forecast for Wednesday and possibly into Thursday with strong to extreme southwest winds. Highest snowfall amounts will be in the Coquihalla area. A mix of sun and cloud, reduced winds and intermittent flurries are forecast for Friday and Saturday. Freezing levels area expected to remain at surface for the forecast period.

On Tuesday 1 size 3 and several size 2 slab avalanches were reported in the Coquihalla area. North of Pemberton, a size 1.5 windslab was accidentally triggered by a skier. All avalanche activity occurred within the recent storm snow.

Expect new storm slabs and wind slabs to form on Wednesday. This will add to the variable amounts of low density storm snow that has been shifted by winds into soft slabs in the alpine and at treeline. A layer of surface hoar and stellars buried on Dec 10 exists at treeline in the Duffey Lake area and may be more widespread.  Buried down 70-100 cm, you might find a surface hoar layer from late November; however, no recent avalanches have been observed on this layer. A consolidated mid-pack overlies the deeply buried November crust/facet layer, which continues to give occasional sudden planar compression test results. This layer has not been observed in the Coquihalla area.