Avalanche Forecast

Low - Uncertainty is due to the limited number of field observations.

High pressure remains the dominant weather feature for the rest of the week. The next storm system is currently forecast to arrive on Saturday afternoon or evening. 

Wednesday Night: Mainly cloudy with a chance of light flurries, moderate to strong NW wind, treeline low around -8 °C.

Thursday: Mainly sunny, light N wind, treeline high around 0 °C.

Friday: Sunny, light SW-W wind, treeline high around +1 °C.

Saturday: Increasing cloud cover with light snow beginning in the late afternoon, moderate to strong SW wind, treeline high around 0 °C.

On Tuesday, a ski cut triggered a size 1 wind slab in a cross-loaded terrain feature. A natural size 1 loose dry avalanche was also observed in a steep gully on a southwest aspect. 

The weekend storm produced up to 25 cm of new snow for the North Shore Mountains and around 35-40 cm in the east of the region. Recent strong northly winds have redistributed this storm snow into reactive wind slabs in exposed terrain.

The mid-February crust is down around 25-50 cm and exists on all aspects and elevations. There is still a fair bit of uncertainty as to how the recent storm is bonding to this crust but an observation from the North Shore suggests that it is bonding well. 

The late-January melt-freeze crust is now down around 80 cm and seems to be well bonded to the surrounding snow. The middle and lower snowpack are considered well settled and strong.

• Continue to make conservative terrain choices while the storm snow settles and stabilizes.
• Watch for newly formed and reactive wind slabs as you transition into wind affected terrain.
• Closely monitor how the new snow is bonding to the crust.