North Columbia

Be cautious of areas where the surface snow feels heavy or dense.

Treat wind affected slopes with great caution, new and reactive wind slabs are likely.

Moderate

• Uncertainty is due to the speed, direction, or duration of the wind and its effect on the snowpack.

Jan 7

• Explosive control produced large avalanches (up to size 3) in the region

Jan 6

• Natural and human triggered avalanches were reported in the region up to size 2.5 on a variety of aspects and elevations.

Jan 5

• A few large (up to size 2) natural and human triggered storm slab avalanches were reported in the region, on east and north aspects at all elevations.

The upper 40 to 60 cm of the snow pack is an accumulation of snow from the last few days. In places this could be resting on some feathery surface hoar crystals.

The snow has been affected by moderate southwesterly wind in open areas at treeline and in the alpine.

The prominent mid-December crust is buried up to 110 cm deep and extends to 2200 m. Triggering the crust is considered unlikely, except with large loads or in thin snowpack areas.

Thursday Night
Mostly cloudy. 5 to 10 cm of snow. 40 km/h southwest ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -10 °C.

Friday
Mostly cloudy. 5 to 10 cm of snow. 50 km/h southwest ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -7 °C.

Saturday
Mostly cloudy. Up to 5 cm of snow. 50 km/h southwest ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -3 °C. Freezing level 1500 m.

Sunday
Mostly cloudy. 5 to 10 cm of snow. 50 km/h southwest ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -2 °C. Freezing level 1500 m.

More details can be found in the Mountain Weather Forecast.

• Avoid freshly wind-loaded terrain features.
• Start on smaller terrain features and gather information before committing to bigger terrain.