Northwest Coastal

Recent storm snow has buried a layer of surface hoar. The snowpack will need some time to adjust to the new load.

• Continue to make conservative terrain choices while the storm snow settles and stabilizes.
• Avoid areas where the snow feels stiff and/or slabby.
• Storm slabs in motion may step down to deeper layers resulting in large avalanches.

Numerous explosive-triggered avalanches up to size 2.5 were reported on Tuesday. Primarily in the north of the region. We suspect a natural avalanche cycle to have occurred Tuesday night and Wednesday morning.

If you are out in the backcountry please consider filling out a MIN report.

Approximately 20 to 30 cm of new snow has been redistributed by strong southerly alpine winds. Buried by this most recent snow may be a layer of feathery surface hoar crystals. Another layer of surface hoar may exist deeper in the snowpack, roughly 50 to 70 cm below the surface.

The remaining mid and lower snowpack contains several crusts from early in the season that are generally well-bonded to the surrounding snowpack. Currently, the height of snow is highly variable and decreases significantly at lower elevations.

Wednesday Night

Mostly cloudy with 0 to 10 cm of snow (higher amounts in the north of the region), southwest alpine winds 40 to 60 km/h, treeline temperature -5 °C.

Thursday

Mix of sun and cloud with no precipitation, southwest alpine winds 40 to 50 km/h, treeline temperature -3 °C.

Friday

Mostly cloudy with 2 to 10 cm of snow, southwest alpine winds 60 to 80 km/h, treeline temperature -4 °C.

Saturday

Cloudy with trace precipitation, southwest alpine winds 40 to 50 km/h, treeline temperature -3 °C.

More details can be found in the Mountain Weather Forecast.