Vancouver Island

While this stormy weather pattern feels familiar, an unfamiliar weak layer still exist deeper in the snowpack. Smaller avalanches may step down to deeper instabilities.

There were a few size 1 to 1.5 slab avalanches reported over the weekend. These were running southwest through north aspects at treeline and in the alpine. There were also some reports of whumpfing and cracking in the Mt Cokely area.

If you are heading into the backcountry, consider posting a MIN.

New snow falls on old wind-affected snow, facets, surface hoar, or a melt freeze crust. The bond of the new snow to the underlying layers is unknown.

At upper elevations, wind has redistributed storm snow into fresh wind slabs in lee terrain.

A widespread crust, sometimes accompanied by a thin layer of weak facets, is buried 30 to 70 cm beneath predominantly low-density snow.

The mid and lower snowpack contains no other layers of concern.

Wednesday Night

Cloudy with 5 to 10 mm of mixed precipitation. 30 to 50 km/h west ridgetop wind. Freezing level 1200 m

Thursday

Cloudy with 5 to 10 mm of mixed precipitation. 30 to 50 km/h west ridgetop wind. Freezing level 1200 m.

Friday

Cloudy with 15 to 35 mm of mixed precipitation. 70 to 90 km/h southwest ridgetop wind. Freezing level 1500 m.

Saturday

Cloudy with 10 to 60 mm of mixed precipitation. 50 to 90 km/h south ridgetop wind. Freezing level rising to 2000 m.

More details can be found in the Mountain Weather Forecast.

• Minimize exposure during periods of heavy loading from new snow and wind.
• Use small, low consequence slopes to test the bond of the new snow.
• Fresh snow rests on a problematic persistent slab, don't let good riding lure you into complacency.
• A moist or wet snow surface, pinwheeling, and natural avalanches are all indicators of a weakening snowpack.