Regions
Northwest Coastal.
Spring conditions. Plan to travel when the snow surface is frozen and strong.
Weather Forecast
Mainly cloudy weather with a few convective showers are expected over the next few days. The daytime freezing level stays around 1200 m until Wednesday, when it begins to climb again. Winds rise to strong from the south for a time late Monday/early Tuesday.
Avalanche Summary
No recent avalanches have been reported. A couple of large wet slab avalanches were observed in the NW Inland area. Most operators have shut down for the season. Please continue to share your backcountry observations through the Mountain Information Network.
Snowpack Summary
Isolated storm slabs may be found in the alpine. At lower elevations, monitor the overnight freeze of the snow surface. If the snow surface does not freeze overnight or if the crust is only a few cm thick, the effect of daytime heating or rain will weaken the snowpack much more quickly than it would if there is a well frozen thick crust. Low elevation and thin snowpack areas are likely to be isothermal.
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.
Wet Slabs
Wet Slab avalanches are the release of a cohesive layer of snow (a slab) that is generally moist or wet when the flow of liquid water weakens the bond between the slab and the surface below (snow or ground). They often occur during prolonged warming events and/or rain-on-snow events. Wet Slabs can be very unpredictable and destructive.