New snow accumulating over the weekend is limited to upper elevations. If you are venturing out, wind slabs in alpine terrain will be the main concern.
New snow that fell with strong southwest wind over the weekend may not bond well to underlying surfaces. Don't forget about other early-season hazards that are lurking just beneath this snow, such as rocks, trees, and creeks.
Up to 20cm of new snow fell Saturday night at uppermost elevations in the Coquihalla area. In other parts of the region snowfall amounts were in the 5-10cm and were limited to upper elevations also.The new snow will cover bare ground below treeline, and around 40 cm of hard snow intermixed with trees and rocks at treeline and alpine elevations.
The new snow may not bond well to the previous snow surface at higher elevations. Use particular caution where the snow surface appears smooth, as this may mean an avalanche could propagate over a wider area.
SUNDAY Night: Cloudy with scattered flurries, light to moderate west wind, alpine temperature -7, freezing level 700m.
MONDAY: Mix of sun and cloud, light northwest wind, alpine temperature -8 C, freezing level 700 m.
TUESDAY: Mix of sun and cloud, light northeast wind, alpine temperature -9 C, freezing level 400m.
WEDNESDAY: Mix of sun and cloud, light to moderate northeast wind, alpine temperature -8 C, freezing level valley bottom.
Observations are very limited right now, with recreationists just starting to get into the mountains and operations starting up. We haven't received any reports of recent avalanche activity. The most likely place to trigger an avalanche would be where the ground is smooth, such as on glaciers, rock slabs, scree slopes, or grassy slopes.
If you see anything while out in the field, please consider sharing that information with us and fellow recreationists via the Mountain Information Network (MIN).
