Vancouver Island

Wind and light snowfall through the day Friday will continue to build thin wind slabs at upper elevations.

Moderate

• Forecast precipitation (either snow or rain) amounts are uncertain.

The AvCan field team observed small natural wind slab avalanches on Mount Arrowsmith during the peak of Tuesday’s storm. Observations from the Prince of Wales Range on Wednesday suggest these slabs were becoming better bonded.

Looking ahead, wind slabs should continue to stabilize but may still be possible to trigger on some steep alpine features.

There is likely a few centimetres of new snow sitting over wind-affected snow in exposed areas treeline and above. In sheltered areas, 30 to 40 cm of recent snow sits on a thick rain crust that formed over the weekend. The mid and lower snowpack are well settled and dense, with treeline depths averaging 100 to 150 cm.

Thursday Night

Cloudy. 2 to 5 cm of snow. 40 km/h southwest ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -2 °C. Freezing level 900 m.

Friday

Cloudy. 2 to 4 mm of precipitation as snow or rain at treeline. 50 km/h southwest ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature 0 °C. Freezing level 1300 m.

Saturday

Mostly cloudy. 20 to 40 mm of precipitation as snow or rain at treeline. 60 km/h south ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature 1 °C. Freezing level 1500 m.

Sunday

Mostly cloudy. 10 to 30 mm of rain at treeline. 50 km/h south ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature 2 °C. Freezing level 1900 m.

More details can be found in the Mountain Weather Forecast.

• Pay attention to isolated wind affected features in the alpine, as well as cross-loaded features at treeline.
• Closely monitor how the new snow is bonding to the crust.