Regions
Vancouver Island.
Confidence
High - Continued stable weather pattern.
Travel/Terrain Advice
Spring-like conditions continue to persist. Assess sunny slopes especially once the snow becomes moist or wet. Small loose wet avalanches have the potential for high consequences when travelling above cliffs or terrain traps. Watch for early season hazards such as exposed creeks, stumps, and tree wells especially below treeline.
Past Weather
Vancouver Island has seen a very stable weather pattern with little to no precipitation, light to moderate SE through SW winds and temperatures ranging from -5oC to +11oC. Freezing levels have been above the highest of the peaks on the Island for the majority of the time.
Avalanche Summary
No new avalanches observed over the weekend. Skiing on steep unsupported features did not produce any result.
Snowpack Description
Surface - Thin unsupportive sun crust on solar aspects at all elevation in the morning, becoming moist quickly. In shaded areas snow remains cold.
Upper - Well settled and bonding well to rain crusts that were formed and buried in November.
Mid - Well settled crust complex.
Lower - Well settled.
Weather Forecast
A short lived weak disturbance in the entrenched ridge of high pressure Tuesday and Wednesday will produce increased cloud cover and minimal precipitation, likely in the form of rain or wet flurries. Temperatures and freezing levels will remain high and winds will be light from southerly directions to calm. Continued temperature inversion with low level clouds and fog near the ocean.
Mon - A trace of precipitation. Winds light to moderate SE
Freezing levels of 1800-3800 m
Tue - 0-3 mm of precipitation. Winds light to moderate SW
Freezing levels of 1450-2500 m
Wed - A trace of precipitation. Winds light variable to calm
Freezing levels of 570-3600 m
Problems
Loose Wet
Loose Wet avalanches are the release of wet unconsolidated snow or slush. These avalanches typically occur within layers of wet snow near the surface of the snowpack, but they may quickly gouge into lower snowpack layers. Like Loose Dry Avalanches, they start at a point and entrain snow as they move downhill, forming a fan-shaped avalanche. Other names for loose-wet avalanches include point-release avalanches or sluffs. Loose Wet avalanches can trigger slab avalanches that break into deeper snow layers.