South Coast

The new snow may be surprisingly reactive due to underlying crusts.

Moderate - Freezing levels are uncertain on Friday

Friday: About 10cm of the new snow with an additional 10-18cm overnight / Light and variable winds / Freezing level at 700mSaturday: Mix of sun and cloud / Light southwest winds / Freezing level at 1900mSunday: Mostly clear skies / Light southwest winds / Freezing level at 2500m

On Wednesday we received a fantastic MIN report of a size 1.5 skier triggered wind slab in the alpine. You can see it here. This report shows just how different the conditions are between the North Shore and the Squamish area. A new round of storm slab activity is expected in response to new snow and wind on Friday and Saturday. At elevations where rain falls, loose wet avalanches are also possible in steep terrain.

In the last few days the North Shore Mountains received about 91 mm of rain, and approximately 20 cm of snow with a rapidly fluctuating freezing level. Depending on elevation, the upper snowpack is likely now a mix of moist snow, crusts and settling storm snow; however, reports from the North Shore indicate that 15cm of moist snow sits above loose dry snow which overlies a crust. This combination has proven to be reactive in surprisingly low-angle terrain. Reactive storm slabs may exist at upper elevations.Approximately 100 cm below the surface you may find a few prominent melt-freeze crusts that were buried mid-December, these crust layers have been reported to be bonding well to the mid-pack and are largely considered dormant.The snowpack depth at 1000 m is about 150 cm and many early season hazards are still present.