Watch for changing conditions over the day. Storm snow may be reactive to human triggers, particularly in wind affected features.
New snow may not bond well with old snow surfaces. Deeper and more reactive deposits are expected in lee/wind loaded terrain features throughout the West Purcells.
Cornices are large and fragile, and often break further back on ridgelines than expected.
Small loose wet avalanches and cornice falls have been reported this week. Moving forward, we expect new snow to be triggerable by riders, and continue to be suspect of large, overhanging cornices.
Observations from this region are very limited. Please consider submitting a MIN to let us know what you're seeing out there.
By Tuesday afternoon, 5-15 cm of snow is expected. Deeper deposits are expected to form in north and east facing terrain features. New snow likely sits over a moist upper snowpack or a crust.
A thick crust from mid-March is 20-60 cm deep, which extends up to about 2400 m. Near Invermere, weak sugary facets may be found above this crust.
In shallow snowpack areas, depth hoar (large facets) can be found near the bottom of the snowpack. Snowpack depth tapers rapidly at lower elevations.
Monday Night
Mostly cloudy. 1 mm of precipitation as snow or rain at treeline. 40 km/h west ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -2 °C. Freezing level 2000 m.
Tuesday
Cloudy. 5 cm of snow is expected in most areas, up to 15cm is possible in high elevation west Purcell terrain. 50 km/h southwest ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -4 °C.
Wednesday
Mostly cloudy. 15 to 30 cm of snow. 40 km/h southwest ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -5 °C.
Thursday
Mostly cloudy. 10 to 20 cm of snow. 30 km/h south ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -8 °C.
More details can be found in the Mountain Weather Forecast.
