Kootenay Boundary

Good - -1

Flurry activity is expected to taper off by Tuesday morning. A building ridge of high pressure is expected to spread dryconditions Wednesday through Thursday morning before a frontalsystem arrives late Thursday bringing light precipitation. Freezing levels should remain near 1000m and winds should be light and variable throughout the forecast period.

Surface snow has been sluffing readily with rider traffic on steep slopes and strong solar radiation has resulted in afternoon snowballing and isolated small wet loose avalanches. Deep persistent slab avalanches remain possible with heavy triggers in shallow rocky snowpack areas on unsupported slopes.

5-15cm of fresh snow is sitting on a thin weak crust capping 2-5cm of moist snow that rests on top of robust surface hoar created during the dry spell at the beginning of the month. This interface will be one to watch as it receives more snow load and/or the slab settles. Below that 30cm of near-surface facets can be found on shady slopes while a sun crust can be found on southerly aspects. Concerns remain for the mid-December persistent weakness down around 80-100cm and for basal facets in shallow snowpack areas.