Northwest - BC
Avalanche Forecast 	

Date/Time issued: Monday, January 09, 2006  at 7:00 PM
Valid until: Wednesday, January 11, 2006
	
This forecast includes northwest BC coastal and inland areas in the Coast, 
Skeena and Hazelton Mountain ranges. This region includes the Coast Mountains 
east of Prince Rupert, north of Kitimat and east of Stewart, the Skeena 
Mountains from Ningunsaw Pass in the north to New Hazelton in the south, and the 
Hazelton Mountains between Terrace and Smithers. This region services backcountry 
recreationists from Prince Rupert, Kitimat, Smithers, Terrace and Stewart as well 
as other visitors to northwest BC.

Forecast of avalanche danger  Monday, January 09, 2006

	            Monday	    Tuesday	    Wednesday	
Alpine	        Moderate	Moderate	Moderate	
Treeline	    Moderate	Moderate	Moderate	
Below Treeline	Moderate	Moderate	Moderate	
  
Travel Advisory:   The bulk of the stormy weather has passed, and only relatively 
small increments of snow are expected the next few days. Since temperatures are 
forecast to cool and winds will remain mostly light the avalanche danger should remain 
quite stable the next few days, if not improve. Folks in the east side of the range 
(Smithers area) may need to use additional caution since old weak surface hoar and 
facet layers are down 50-60 cm and are still within the range of being triggered. 
Although conditions are overall pretty good, it’s likely not yet the time to get 
into bigger, steep open terrain.

Avalanche Activity:   We received no recent reports of avalanche activity, but still 
suspect there were some during the recent dump of snow. The fact that there was good 
riding in the trees and limited visibility in the alpine may hide the truth. Have a 
look around next time the skies clear to see where avalanches occurred.

Snowpack:   The recent snow has come in under mostly light wind conditions, and by 
all accounts is settling out well and making for most excellent powder conditions. It 
doesn’t sound like anyone is complaining! Weaknesses in the storm snow continue to gain 
strength quickly the way they’re supposed to in a Coastal snowpack. Old weak layers, 
although buried deeper in the snowpack, are not down and out yet. Only a few days ago 
the Dec. 20th surface hoar layer and the Christmas crust were still on peoples minds and 
are now buried over 100 cm deep near Terrace and 40-80 cm in the Smithers area. It’s 
still worth your time digging down to these layers to determine if you still need to worry 
about them.

Weather:   Heavy snowfall occurred Sunday and Monday on the west side of the Coast 
range, with 20-40 cm of snow under moderately cool (-5 degree) temperatures and mostly 
light southwest wind. Expect another 5-10 cm of snow tonight, 5-10 cm Tuesday, and light 
snowfall Wednesday on the west side of the range. Snowfall in the Smithers area should be 
closer to the 2-5 cm range each day. Even better news is that the freezing level will 
continue to fall slightly the next couple of days, preserving powder conditions. Mostly 
light to moderate (10-40 km/hr) southwest winds are forecast Monday, becoming lighter on 
Tuesday and Wednesday.
  
Issued by:   aj