Rising freezing levels, heavy precipitation, and strong winds are a recipe for High avalanche danger!
Confidence
Moderate - Due to the number of field observations
Weather Forecast
A series of powerful storms are going to wallop the coast over the coming days bringing heavy precipitation and strong winds that should spill over into the inland regions. Unfortunately the freezing level could rise as high as 2200m on Tuesday. However, higher elevations could see snowfall accumulations of up to 40cm. Freezing levels are forecast to fall back to 1500m for the remained of the forecast period with another 40cm expected by Friday. Winds will be moderate from the SW.
Avalanche Summary
A widespread avalanche cycle is expected to continue as a series of storms pummels the coast range over the next couple of days.
Snowpack Summary
We're still dealing with a limited set of observations and it sounds like there is quite a lot of variability across the region. It's been snowing hard above 1500m forming deep storm slabs at tree-line and in the alpine. The new snow is sitting on a supportive mid-pack in the Duffy whereas pre-storm reports from the Coquihalla described a shallower early season snowpack.
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.