February 4, 1999 South Coast and Vancouver Island Weather: Unsettled with waves of significant precipitation and wind has been the trend over the past week or so. As much as 150cm of snow has accumulated with this weather pattern and strong winds have resulted in substantial wind scouring and loading. Another push of moisture, wind, and rising freezing levels is forecast for late Friday, with continued unsettled weather for the weekend. Snowpack: A number of weak layers exist in the top 150cm of the snowpack, deposited over the past week. Intense wind transport has resulted in significant lee and cross slope loading. Temperatures are good for this upper part of the snowpack to settle out and gain strength however it is likely the snowpack will remain reactive to human triggers for a few days yet. Avalanches: The natural activity has settled down however human and explosive triggers are still consistently producing avalanches to size 2.0 Danger: Above Treeline: CONSIDERABLE Below Treeline: CONSIDERABLE Travel Advisory: There will likely be a wide variety of snow stability out there this weekend so do lots of looking and testing from safe locations before entering more committing terrain. Subtle changes in aspect may result in dramatic changes in snow stability. This weekends weather has the potential to increase the avalanche danger rapidly. Carefully watch the forecast and especially the freezing levels. North Columbia Region Weather: The unsettled weather pattern continues. After a fairly good storm on Monday and Tuesday, Wednesday provided a bit of a break allowing some access to the alpine. 70 to 130 cm of snow has been deposited over the past week accompanied by moderate to strong winds. A deep low in the Gulf of Alaska promises more wind, moderate precipitation and rising freezing levels for the weekend. Snowpack: New snow instabilities exist in the storm snow of the past week. Tests are producing easy to moderate results in layers in the top 50cm, and moderate to hard results in layers below 50cm down to the old snow interface. Some areas are still observing hard shears on surface hoar as deep as 130cm down. The snowpack has been significantly wind affected in all exposed areas. Soft and hard wind slabs have been observed in all alpine areas. Avalanches: Most areas reported numerous natural avalanches after Tuesdays storm. The natural activity has settled down but human and explosive triggers are still producing avalanches to size 3.0 Some areas are surprised by the lack of activity in the past 24hrs. given the amount of storm snow and wind. Danger: Above Treeline: CONSIDERABLE Below Treeline: MODERATE Travel Advisory: The wind has not only been hammering the alpine, but a number of areas have reported significant mid and lower elevation wind effect as well. Surface hoar is often more prevalent in the mid elevations and combined with wind transported snow could produce pockets of poorer snow stability. The weather forecast for this weekend is a bit uncertain so watch out for precipitation and wind that could rapidly increase the avalanche danger. South Columbia Region Weather: Moderate precipitation early in the week combined with moderate to strong winds provided significant scouring, wind transported snow, and slab development. Late Friday and Saturday will see the next system move through the region with moderate precipitation and winds, with freezing levels to 1600 metres or possibly higher. Snowpack: New snow instabilities and wind slabs are the area of concern. Most areas report the storm snow settling well and gaining strength however some areas are finding moderate shears in top 50cm. Avalanches: Numerous natural and explosive triggered avalanches early in the week mostly to size 3.0, with one size 4.0 reported. Only infrequent natural avalanches reported in the past 24hrs. Explosives are still producing some results to size 2.5. Danger: Above Treeline: CONSIDERABLE Below Treeline: MODERATE possibly considerable depending on freezing levels. Travel Advisory: The wind has had a major affect on snow distribution over the past week both in the alpine and at mid elevations. Watch out for pockets of unusually heavy wind loading or slab development. More precipitation, wind and rising freezing levels are forecast for the weekend. This could cause a rapid increase in the avalanche danger. Rockies Region Weather: Windy, windy, windy and at times very windy has been the trend for the past week. Moderate precipitation has been associated with the passage of a number of weather systems. Temperatures have been quite pleasant with highs around -3 and lows to -13. Friday night and Saturday promise light possibly moderate precipitation and strong winds. Snowpack: The snowpack has been significantly wind affected leaving a variety of snow cover depths and strengths. In many shallow cover areas, wind slabs exist on top of a weak base. Substantial lee and cross slope loading has occurred in the past week. Below treeline snowpacks have been settling and gaining strength. Avalanches: In many areas observations have been limited due to poor weather. Natural releases appear infrequent. Explosives are triggering avalanches to size 2.0 Danger: Above Treeline: CONSIDERABLE Below Treeline: MODERATE Travel Advisory: The wide variety of snowpack distribution can make stability evaluation difficult, especially as new snow disguises the wind effect. There is good potential for slab propagation from thin to thicker areas of the snowpack.