Northwest Coastal

Snow, wind and warming are creating a good recipe for avalanches in the south-west of the region. Expect better conditions further north and east.

Moderate - Track of incoming weather systems is uncertain

MONDAY: Strong south-west winds. 10-20 cm snow (locally more in the south-west). Alpine temperature near -1.TUESDAY: Light winds. 5 cm snow. Alpine temperature near -2.WEDNESDAY: Light winds. 5-10 cm snow. Alpine temperature near -7.

Few avalanches have been reported over the past few days, but avalanche activity is expected to increase as storm snow comes in with warming and strong winds.

The snowpack is variable across the region. Wind slabs can be found on a variety of slopes. New snow is expected to create touchy storm slabs in the south and west, but amounts should peter out as you travel north and east.A surface hoar/facet interface that was buried on New Years Eve is down about 30-40 cm. Incoming storm snow might bring the load above this layer to its tipping point. A hard crust from mid-December sits deeper in the snowpack. Beneath the mid-December crust the snowpack is reported to be generally strong with the possible exception of areas around Stewart and northern parts of the region where the late-October crust can be found near the base of the snowpack. Weak sugary faceted snow may exist around this deeply buried crust and could be triggered from shallow snowpack areas.