Avalanche Forecast
Regions: Brandywine, Garibaldi, Homathko, Powell River, Sea To Sky, Spearhead, Stave, Tantalus.
New snow continues to settle and get redistributed by southerly winds.
Use conservative decision-making as you seek out fresh lines.
Confidence
Moderate
Avalanche Summary
On Tuesday there was a size one human-triggered avalanche reported on Brohm Ridge. It occurred at treeline on a northwest aspect.
If you head to the backcountry please post your reports and photos to the Mountain Information Network, the information is very helpful to forecasters.
Snowpack Summary
In the alpine strong southerly winds will have redistributed 20 to 50 cm storm snow. These fresh wind slabs will be sitting on old wind-affected surfaces and hard crusts at higher elevations. In more sheltered areas the new snow will be more consolidated but sitting on similar surfaces. At lower elevations, recent precipitation may have fallen as rain.
A crust from mid-January can be found down 40 to 70 cm deep. A number of weak layers exist within the middle and lower snowpack, but the thick crusts sitting above them make triggering avalanches on these layers unlikely. The areas of concern in terms of triggering a deeper layer are shallow rocky areas where the snowpack varies from thick to thin.
Weather Summary
Tuesday Night
Cloudy, 5 cm accumulation ending the early evening, winds southwest 45 km/h, treeline temperatures -3 C.
Wednesday
Cloudy with possible sunny breaks, trace accumulation, winds southwest 16 km/h, treeline temperatures -8 C.
Thursday
Cloudy, up to 20 cm accumulation starting in the very early morning hours, winds south 50 km/h, treeline temperatures -3 C, and warming late in the day.
Friday
Cloudy, up to 30 cm accumulation that will be starting late evening on Thursday, winds southwest 25km/h, treeline temperatures -3 to -5 C.
More details can be found in the Mountain Weather Forecast.
Terrain and Travel Advice
- Watch for newly formed and reactive wind slabs as you transition into wind affected terrain.
- As the storm slab problem gets trickier, the easy solution is to choose more conservative terrain.
- Be especially cautious as you transition into wind affected terrain.
Avalanche Problems
Storm Slabs
Recent storm snow combined with wind and warm temperatures will promote slab production and reactivity.
Strong southwesterly winds are transporting storm snow into deep pockets in lees.
At lower elevations precipitation may fall as wet snow or rain, watch for loose wet avalanche potential on steep slopes as the surface snow loses cohesion.
Aspects: All aspects.
Elevations: All elevations.
Likelihood: Very Likely
Expected Size: 1 - 2