Avalanche danger is expected to remain low for the North Shore mountains, but wet avalanches may still be problematic in the higher elevation alpine terrain of the Squamish area.
Confidence
Low - Due to the number of field observations
Weather Forecast
A wet weekend is in store for the South Coast. The freezing level is expected to fluctuate through the weekend, look for rain transitioning to snow mid-day Saturday. On Monday the freezing level may creep above the mountains of the South Coast. Stay tuned for more details. FRIDAY NIGHT: Freezing level around 2000 m, 15 to 20 mm of precipitation expected, moderate southwest wind.SATURDAY: Clearing skis, freezing level beginning near 1800 m lowering to 1000 m around lunch time, light to moderate west/southwest wind, 7 to 10 mm of precipitation expected.SUNDAY: Overcast, freezing level around 1000 m, light to moderate southeast wind, 8 to 12 mm of precipitation expected.MONDAY: Overcast, freezing level beginning around 1100 m rising to about 1400 m in the afternoon, light to moderate southeast wind, 15 to 25 mm of precipitation.
Avalanche Summary
No new avalanche activity has been reported.
Snowpack Summary
On Friday January 5th the rain began to fall in earnest. As of 17:00 on Friday evening the Strachan Precip Station at 1220 m had recorded 53 mm of total rain fall. This rain has saturated the entire snowpack on all but the highest elevation slopes. 50 to 100 cm below the surface there are a few prominent melt-freeze crusts that were buried mid-December. Snowpack investigation Friday afternoon revealed rain is not pooling at these crusts with any significance.The rain has reduced the snowpack depth at 1000 m to about 140 cm and many early season hazards are still present at lower elevations.
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.