Avalanche Canada has issued a high danger rating for the South Coast, with a big storm expected to bring up to 50 centimetres of new snow by Wednesday evening.
Avalanche forecaster Kate Devine said the stormy weather overnight Tuesday and into Wednesday would likely result in a natural avalanche cycle for mountains in the South Coast region, which stretches from Squamish to Harrison Lake, including the North Shore Mountains range.
"Steer clear of avalanche terrain for now," said Devine.
"10-20 cm overnight Tuesday followed by up to 30 cm on Wednesday will mean that storm slabs will be widespread, and easy to trigger," she said, in a forecast update on Avalanche Canada.
“This new snow will land on 30-70 cm recent storm snow which appears to be adhering well to old surfaces."
She also cautioned that wet snow, possibly mixed with rain at lower elevations may result in wet, loose avalanches.
High danger ratings are in place for alpine and treeline areas and a considerable risk warning has been issued for below treeline for Dec. 30. Heading into Dec. 31 the rating drops to considerable for alpine areas and moderate for both treeline and below treeline.
In a post to Facebook, Avalanche Canada said there were at least four large avalanches that occurred Dec. 28 in the mountains close to Whistler and Pemberton, three of which were human triggered.
"They ran on a weak layer that formed in mid-December, now buried 60-100 cm below the snow surface," the post states.
"Three of these avalanches were human-triggered and involved people.”
"The layer is likely to remain a problem for several days and could potentially become more reactive in response to storms forecast for Wednesday."
Avalanche Canada weather summary
Wednesday - Snow, mixed with rain at times, 25-30 cm / southwest wind, 40-60 km/h, gusting to 80 km/h / alpine high temperature near 0 / freezing level rising to 1000 m
Thursday - Mainly cloudy / light northwest winds / alpine high temperature near 0 / freezing level 1200 m
Friday - Snow and rain, 30-50 cm / southwest wind, 60-80 km/h / alpine high temperature near 1 / freezing level 1500 m
