Mother Nature does not want you going skiing this weekend.

Heavy rainfall and strong winds have shut down both Mount Seymour and Cypress, with avalanche warnings from the Canadian Avalanche Centre on high for the North Shore

The avalanche rating for the North Shore has a “very likely to certain” chance of an avalanche occurring on all slopes.

Intense rain is expected to weaken the upper snowpack making the snow dense and heavy, eventually forcing an avalanche, according to the centre.

Grouse Mountain’s downhill slopes remain open, but snowshoe trails and some black ski runs are shut while staff assesses the situation throughout the day.

This is the first closure due to weather conditions this season for Mount Seymour, but Simon Whitehead, their sales and marketing manager, said they expect to be back up and running by Saturday.

“We’re experiencing a lot of rain at the moment, but we’re going to be open tomorrow,” Whitehead said. “This is the first shutdown we’ve had for a weather event this year.”

Grouse Mountain’s public relations manager Sarah Lusk said they’ve been lucky as there’s not been enough rainfall in their area to close down their downhill ski slopes.

“We knew it was coming,” Lusk said, referring to the storm. “But we’ve had so much snow in the past week or so we’re not concerned.”

Cypress Mountain also shut down Friday but is expecting to be back up and running Saturday morning.

All mountains are keeping a watchful eye on Sunday’s conditions as they could shut down again if the weather isn’t safe.

Either way, the Canadian Avalanche Centre advises against going out today.

For more information visit www.avalanche.ca.