Kootenay Boundary

Obvious signs of avalanche conditions have decreased, but surprisingly large avalanches are still possible.

Fair

A layer of warm air aloft will create warm alpine temperatures. Light amounts of precipitation are expected on Thursday night/ Friday. SW winds strengthen on Friday.

On Saturday, skiers triggered numerous persistent slab avalanches to size 2 in the north of the region, in some cases remotely from a distance of 10m. On Sunday, a couple of persistent slab avalanches in the size 2.5 range were triggered between 2100 and 2300m from a distance of up to 100m. Avalanche activity has slowed, but there is still the potential for human-triggering of large avalanches, especially from areas where the snowpack transitions from thick to thin.

Large surface hoar crystals are growing on the snow surface. Underneath this a thin frozen crust exists up to about 1900m. Our main concern continues to be a crust/surface hoar combo buried in mid-December. This touchy layer is 60-120cm down and has the potential to be triggered by people and produce surprisingly large avalanches. A facet/crust layer near the base of the snowpack has mostly been dormant, apart from recent activity in the Bonnington Range which suggests it may still be reactive in isolated terrain.