Vancouver Island

New snow and wind will build storm slabs that are deeper in wind loaded areas.

If you see more than 30 cm of new snow where you are in the mountains treat the hazard as considerable.

In the past few days only one avalanche was reported in the Adder area. It was a small (size 1) remote triggered avalanche on a north aspect in the treeline. The reported also described a few older avalanches up to size 2. See the whole report here.

If you are getting out in the backcountry, consider making a post on the MIN (Mountain Information Network). You can share riding conditions, avalanche or snowpack observations, or even just a photo or two.

10 to 20 cm of new snow is falling on wind-affected snow on all aspects in wind-exposed terrain, in sheltered terrain near-surface faceting and in places surface hoar have been reported. On sunny slopes this new snow will fall on a hard sun crust.

A widespread crust, combined with a thin layer of weak facets in some areas, can be found 30 to 70 cm deep, under generally low density snow. Otherwise, the mid and lower snowpack contains no other layers of concern.

Saturday Night

Cloudy with 10 to 20 cm of snow, up to 40 cm on the west coast of the island. 30 to 60 km/h southwest ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -3 °C.

Sunday

Cloudy with 5 to 10 cm of snow. 20 to 30 km/h southwest ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature 0 °C. Freezing level rising to 1200m

Monday

Mix of sun and cloud. 10 to 20 km/h southwest ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature 3 °C. Freezing level rising to 1500 m.

Tuesday

Mix of sun and cloud. 10 to 20 km/h southwest ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature 3 °C. Freezing level rising to 1500 m.

More details can be found in the Mountain Weather Forecast.

• Use caution above cliffs and terrain traps where even small avalanches may have severe consequences.
• Watch for fresh storm slabs building throughout the day.