Avoid being in or under avalanche terrain during periods of rapid loading from new snow and wind.
Avalanches will be most likely where new snow and wind are rapidly loading slopes. The largest and most reactive slabs will likely be on north through east aspects below ridgetops.
On Saturday multiple very large (size 3) avalanches were reported near the Wolf's Den area north of Terrace.
On Friday several large and very large natural avalanches were reported near Shames. See the photo below for more details.
With continued precipitation and strong winds in the forecast we can expect this natural avalanche cycle to continue into Monday.
Please consider submitting your observations to the Mountain Information Network.
More precipitation and strong southwesterly winds in the forecast are expected to continue building storm slabs throughout the night and into Monday.
80 cm or more of recent storm snow may be overlying variable snow surfaces, including small facets and/or surface hoar in sheltered areas and heavily wind-affected snow in exposed terrain.
A crust from early November can be found down 120 to 150 cm. Below this prominent crust are several other crust layers from October.
Sunday Night
Cloudy with 15 to 20 cm of snow. 45 to 55 km/h southwest ridgetop wind, ~80 km/h near the coast. Treeline temperature -2 °C.
Monday
Cloudy with 10 to 20 cm of snow expected, with the highest amounts being close to the coast. Light to moderate rain below 750 m. 45 to 55 km/h southwest ridgetop wind, ~80 km/h near the coast. Treeline temperature -1 °C. Freezing level rising to 1000 m.
Tuesday
Cloudy with 10 to 20 cm of snow above the snow line, light to moderate rain below. 50-70 km/h southwest ridgetop wind. Freezing level rising to 2500 m.
Wednesday
Cloudy with light to moderate rain. 45-55 km/h southwest ridgetop wind. Freezing level around 2200 m.
More details can be found in the Mountain Weather Forecast.
