Avalanche Canada warns of increased risk of slides in South Coast mountains
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KAMLOOPS — On Thursday, Avalanche Canada issued a special public avalanche warning for recreational backcountry users in BC’s South Coast region. According to the service, there’s a dangerous weakness in the snowpack in the North Shore mountains.
James Floyer, with Avalanche Canada, says the weakness lies in a layer of snow that’s buried between 40-to-60-centimetres below the surface. The unusually cold temperatures in the area over the past two weeks have created dangerous conditions that make a human-caused avalanche increasingly likely.
“This weak layer is unusual for the South Coast region. It’s quite touchy. It’s comprised of these crystal types that we call Surface Hoar. They’re feathery crystals that act as a sliding layer within the snowpack when they’re buried,” Floyer says. “Under the current conditions and where that weak layer is currently buried, we do think it’s going to cause problems through the weekend and into next week, as well.”
The risk of avalanche is currently highest in the South Coast region, which prompted this warning from Avalanche Canada. However, Floyer says that as we move into February, backcountry users will need to become more and more aware of the risks of heading into the mountains.
