Avalanche Forecast

Moderate

No new avalanches have been reported in the past few days at the time of publishing this forecast.

Looking forward, small wet loose avalanches in steep terrain from sun and daytime warming will be the primary concern.

Please keep sharing your observations via the MIN; it helps strengthen our information gathering.

Upper snowpack: Large surface hoar has been reported on the surface. A crust likely exists on or near the surface in most areas. Last week's storm snow totalled around 50 to 70 cm. This storm arrived warm and mixed with rain near the coast (e.g. North Shore Mountains) Mid-pack: softer, weaker layers of less cohesive snow around 80 - 100 cm down should be gaining strength as they squish. Lower-pack: a thick melt-freeze crust and increasing strength.

At 1000 m the snowpack depth is around 150 cm. In many areas, below treeline elevations are still below the threshold for avalanches.

Wednesday night

Clear with cloudy periods. Weak temperature inversion. Alpine temperatures drop to a low of 1 °C. Mostly light ridge wind occasionally gusting to 35 km/h from the north. Freezing level drops to 100 metres.

Thursday

A mix of sun and cloud. Alpine temperatures reach a high of 3 °C. Ridge wind 10 to 45 km/h from the north. Freezing level rises to 2300 metres.

A mix of sun and cloud. Alpine temperatures reach a high of 3 °C. Mostly light ridge wind occasionally gusting to 35 km/h from the north. Freezing level rises to 2500 metres.

Mainly cloudy with isolated flurries. Alpine temperatures reach a high of -3 °C. Mostly light ridge wind occasionally gusting to 45 km/h from the southwest. Freezing level around 300 metres.

More details can be found in the Mountain Weather Forecast.

• As surface loses cohesion due to melting, loose wet avalanches become common in steeper terrain.
• Loose avalanches may start small but they can grow and push you into dangerous terrain.