Regions
South Coast Inland.
Warm alpine air is the continuing trend. Be cautious on steep slopes if the snow feels moist or wet.
Confidence
High - The weather pattern is stable
Weather Forecast
SATURDAY: Mix of sun and cloud, light to moderate southwesterly winds, freezing level around 2800 m with below-freezing temperatures in the valleys. Chance of light precipitation in the northwestern section of the region on Saturday night, accumulation 1-5 mm.SUNDAY: Mostly cloudy, light southwesterly winds, freezing level around 3100 m.MONDAY: Mix of sun and clouds, light to moderate southwesterly winds, freezing level around 3000 m.
Avalanche Summary
Numerous small loose wet avalanches (size 1) were observed on steep south and west-facing slopes on Wednesday and Thursday. Glide avalanches were observed on steep, smooth rock slabs to size 2 around the Coquihalla on Thursday.
Snowpack Summary
Warm air temperature and clear skies have caused melting of the surface snow on solar aspects, which have been freezing into a crust during the nights. In shady slopes, surface hoar to 20 mm and near-surface faceting have been observed around treeline and in the alpine. Lingering wind slabs on all aspects may be found in the alpine but are trending towards being unreactive. Cornices may be weakening with the warm air temperatures. The recent snow has formed a strong bond to the late November rain crust which is now 30-50 cm deep. Treeline snow depths are approximately 1 m throughout the region.
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.