Avalanche Forecast

Moderate - Forecast snowfall amounts are uncertain

Sunday: Snow heavy at times, accumulations 20-30cm / Moderate to strong southwest wind / Alpine temperature -3Monday: Snow heavy at times, accumulations 20-30cm / Moderate to strong southwest wind / Alpine temperature -1Tuesday: Cloudy with flurries, accumulations 5cm / Moderate to strong northwest wind / Alpine temperature of 0

Expect avalanche activity to increase as snowfall amounts begin to accumulate, the wind picks up and the temperature rises in the afternoon on Sunday. Last weekend two skiers were caught in an avalanche on the North Shore on Sunday in steep, rugged terrain. There's a photo on the North Shore Rescue Facebook page.

5-10cm of new snow overlies the variable old snow surface from late last week, which includes well settled snow on southerly aspects, loose snow on shaded aspects, isolated pockets of surface hoar, and sun crusts on steep southerly aspects. Recent easy to moderate sudden planar snowpack tests suggest poor bonds within and under the recent storm snow. Colder than usual temperatures last week and the potential for buried surface hoar means these weaknesses will take longer than normal to stabilize. An old rain crust is reported to be down 150 cm in the North Shore mountains. This layer is still failing on snowpack tests, but is likely difficult to trigger in most places now.