Avalanche Forecast

Moderate - Recent weather patterns have resulted in a high degree of snowpack variability within the region.

Monday night: Snow, 5-10 cm, moderate to strong southwest wind, alpine high temperature -1 C, freezing level 1500 m.

Tuesday: Snow, 5-10 cm, 20-30 cm for the Coquihalla, moderate to strong southwest wind, alpine high temperature -1 C, freezing level 1600 m.

Wednesday: Snow, 5-10 cm, light to moderate southwest wind, alpine high temperature -2 C, freezing level 1000-1500 m.

Thursday: Clearing, light wind, alpine high temperature -2 C, freezing level 1000-1400 m.

On Monday, natural loose wet avalanche activity was observed size 1-2 at low elevations throughout the region. In the Pemberton Valley, storm slabs size 1-2 were observed initiating at 1600 m and running 1000 m, entraining wet snow. In the Duffey Lake area, a natural size 1.5 wind slab triggered by a cornice failure was observed on a NW aspect in the alpine.

Storm snow continues to accumulate over a variety of surfaces including surface hoar and/or facets in shady, wind sheltered areas, sun crust on solar aspects and hard wind slab in the alpine.

• In the south of the region, another 20-40 cm through the day Tuesday will bring storm totals to 40-60 cm in the Coquihalla and 50-70 cm latitudes near Allison Pass. 
• In the north of the region, 10-15 cm by the end of the day Tuesday will bring storm totals to 20-40 cm. 

A crust that formed in mid-February is now down around 30-50 cm in the north and 70-90 cm in the south. Recent snowpack tests have shown resistant planar results on this layer in the Duffey Lake area. Another crust/facet layer from late-January is buried down 40-120cm and has shown no results in recent snowpack tests.

• Avoid all avalanche terrain during periods of heavy loading from new snow, wind, or rain.
• Storm slab size and sensitivity to triggering will likely increase through the day.
• Keep in mind that wet avalanches can be destructive due to their high density.