Heavy snowfall is expected to bring with it increased avalanche activity.
Wednesday's storm will bring with it substantial accumulations. Rapid and intense loading will produce naturally triggered avalanches.
Tuesday Night
Cloudy, 30 to 35 cm accumulation, winds south-southwest 25 km/h gusting to 50, temperatures -5 to -10 at 1500 m.
Wednesday
Cloudy with some sunny periods, 5 to 15 cm accumulation, winds southwest 20 km/h gusting to 50, temperatures around -7 C.
Thursday
Mostly sunny, trace accumulation, winds northwest 8 km/h, temperatures -5 C at 500 m.
Friday
Mix of sun and cloud, 0 to 5 cm accumulation, winds southeast 10 km/h, temperatures -7 C with freezing levels climbing to 400 m.
More details can be found in the Mountain Weather Forecast.
No new avalanches have been observed in our area. In the Whistler area, however, there was one skier accidental size 2 produced from triggering a wind slab. If you head into the backcountry consider submitting a MIN report.
At around 1000 m our snowpack is sitting at 85 cm. Since Monday morning, there has been 5 cm of new snow. At the highest elevations, recent wind-affected snow covers a melt-freeze crust and moist upper snowpack.
Snow is beginning to cover the surface roughness. The snow-dirt line is found around 1000 m, and most solar slopes and below treeline are below the threshold for avalanches. This will begin to change with the incoming storm.
