Avalanche Forecast
Regions: Coquihalla, Harrison-Fraser, Manning, Sasquatch, Skagit, Stave.
Small thin wind slabs may develop on lee features at upper elevations.
Closely monitor how the new snow is bonding to the new surface crust.
Confidence
Moderate
Avalanche Summary
No new avalanches have been reported. Warm temperatures may have caused wet loose avalanches in steep terrain Friday, but field observations are limited.
If you do head into the backcountry, please consider submitting observations and/or photos on the Mountain Information Network.
Snowpack Summary
Up to 10 cm of fresh snow may sit over a recent melt-freeze crust, which overlies 15-25 cm of moist snow. This shows a good bond to the well-settled snowpack, containing several melt-freeze crusts.
In north-facing terrain protected from the wind, a buried layer of surface hoar exists approximately 30 cm deep, which has shown some reactivity in snowpack tests lately.
Overall, the snow depth remains shallow, and early-season hazards are prevalent at 1400 m and below.
Weather Summary
Saturday Night
Cloudy, 5-10 cm of snow above 1400 m (rain below), alpine wind southwest 30 to 50 km/h, treeline temperature +0 °C, freezing level lowering to 1400 m.
Sunday
Mix of sun and clouds with isolated flurries, trace accumulation, alpine wind west 20 to 30 km/h, treeline temperature around -2 °C, freezing level at 1300 m.
Monday
Mainly sunny, no precipitations, alpine wind southwest 20 km/h, treeline temperature -2 °C, freezing level at 1000 m.
Tuesday
Partly cloudy, no precipitation, alpine wind south 20 km/h, treeline temperature around +1 °C, freezing level rising to 1800 m.
More details can be found in the Mountain Weather Forecast.
Terrain and Travel Advice
- Be carefull around freshly wind loaded features.
- Closely monitor how the new snow is bonding to the crust.
- Even a small avalanche can be harmful if it pushes you into an obstacle or a terrain trap.
Avalanche Problems
Wind Slabs
With new snowfalls, small pockets of wind slabs may develop on lee terrain features at upper elevations. Uncertainty remains on how well these new slabs will bond to the underlying crust.
Aspects: North, North East, East, North West.
Elevations: Alpine, Treeline.
Likelihood: Unlikely - Possible
Expected Size: 1 - 1.5