Vancouver Island Avalanche Bulletin

Confidence: Fair. Sporadic observations of our 2 main persistent layers of concern

Main Concerns:

• 2 buried surface hoar layers with wind slab above them in localized areas
• Avalanche activity on solar aspects

Weather:

Sunny warm weather with freezing levels up to 2600m on Friday dropping down to 1700m for sat/sun. Winds light over the period

Avalanche Activity:

No natural avalanches have been observed or reported over the last 48hrs

Snowpack:

The recent storm snow is now settling out over 2 buried surface hoar layers: These layers are localized and not easy to track. The lower layer was buried on the 10th of Feb with up to 60cms of new snow on it now and the upper layer  was buried on the 15th of feb. This upper layer may have up to 20-30 cms on it. Depth of burial will vary with location. Expect these layers to be buried deeper as you move NW on the Island from the Forbidden Plateau area. Alpine windslabs on these layers will be reactive to skiing or snowmobiling.

Daytime heating on Solar aspects will be a major concern over the next 3 days with high freezing levels and intense solar effect. Expect natural activity on southerly aspects.

Terrain Discussion:

Caution is advised in lee aspects at treeline and above due to the localized pockets of surface hoar. As this layer is not widespread it is hard to predict where it is and is not. Depth of burial will vary dramatically from the West Island to the East. Caution on solar aspects over the next 3 days is also advised due to day time heat effect. Avoid travel under solar aspects as the day time heating increases.  

Outlook:

Sunny, warm weather with high freezing levels for the extended period.