Natural avalanches possible, human triggered probable.
Treeline
Natural avalanches possible, human triggered probable.
Below Treeline
Natural avalanches unlikely, human triggered possible.
Alpine
Natural avalanches possible, human triggered probable.
Treeline
Natural avalanches unlikely, human triggered possible.
Below Treeline
Natural avalanches unlikely.
Alpine
Natural avalanches unlikely, human triggered possible.
Treeline
Natural avalanches unlikely, human triggered possible.
Below Treeline
Natural avalanches unlikely.
Regions
South Coast.
Avalanche danger will stay elevated as long as the stormy weather continues.
Confidence
Fair - Due to the number of field observations
Weather Forecast
Continued light to moderate rain, or wet snow, is expected for Wednesday with another 10-20 mm of precipitation with associated moderate but gusty southerly alpine winds, as freezing levels hover around 2000 m. Thursday could see another 5-15 mm of rain (or cm of wet snow) with associated moderate but gusty southwesterly winds as freezing levels drop as low as 1500 m. While Friday looks dry with a mix of sun and cloud, light alpine winds, and freezing levels back to valley bottoms.
Avalanche Summary
No new reports of avalanches. Please let us know what you're seeing out there. Submit your observations to the Mountain Information Network.
Snowpack Summary
Heavy rain is saturating the upper snowpack and resulting in wet, loose, and cohesionless surface snow as high as alpine elevations in the southern part of the region. While in the alpine and as low as treeline elevations further north wet snow and wind has formed new storm slabs and is overloading previous weaknesses buried within the snowpack, such as the mid-November crust-facet layer. Snow pack depth and snow quality drastically diminishes as you drop below treeline.
Problems
Storm Slabs
Storm Slab avalanches are the release of a cohesive layer (a slab) of new snow that breaks within new snow or on the old snow surface. Storm-slabs typically last between a few hours and few days (following snowfall). Storm-slabs that form over a persistent weak layer (surface hoar, depth hoar, or near-surface facets) may be termed Persistent Slabs or may develop into Persistent Slabs.
Loose Wet
Loose Wet avalanches are the release of wet unconsolidated snow or slush. These avalanches typically occur within layers of wet snow near the surface of the snowpack, but they may quickly gouge into lower snowpack layers. Like Loose Dry Avalanches, they start at a point and entrain snow as they move downhill, forming a fan-shaped avalanche. Other names for loose-wet avalanches include point-release avalanches or sluffs. Loose Wet avalanches can trigger slab avalanches that break into deeper snow layers.