Don't let blue skies and fresh powder lure you into consequential terrain.
Validate conditions and gather information about the snowpack before committing to slopes.
New snow and wind are expected to continue building storm slabs overnight Friday. These slabs may be poorly bonded to an underlying rain crust at treeline and below.
On Thursday
Several naturally triggered storm slabs were reported near Whitewater.
On Wednesday
Numerous storm slabs up to size 2 were triggered by explosive control near Kootenay Pass.
Several naturally triggered avalanches up to size 1.5 were observed near Whitewater.
A widespread natural avalanche cycle occurred in the Kokanee Glacier Park area.
10 to 20 mm of rain on Wednesday created a rain crust that goes as high as 1700 to 2100 m in the region, with snow falling at upper elevations.
10 to 20 cm of snow from Thursday, combined with an additional 5 to 15 cm in the forecast for Friday night, will continue to build reactive storm slabs. The slabs may be poorly bonded to the new rain crust.
The mid and lower snowpack is generally well-settled, but contains multiple crust layers with some overlying facets observed.
Friday Night
Mostly cloudy. 5 to 15 cm of snow. 35 km/h variable ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -10 °C.
Saturday
Sunny. 35 km/h northwest ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -17 °C.
Sunday
Sunny. 20 km/h northwest ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -10 °C.
Monday
Mostly sunny. 30 km/h west ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -8 °C.
More details can be found in the Mountain Weather Forecast.
