Human triggered avalanches are likely. Stick to simple terrain and conservative decision-making is essential.
Natural avalanche activity will spike on solar slopes when the sun is out.
Weak layers remain a concern in high, north-facing terrain where snowpack depth is variable. These layers are still adjusting to the new snow load and have recently been reactive.
Touchy storm slabs continue to be reactive to human triggering. Stick to simple terrain. Back off if you encounter signs of instability like warming from the sun, whumpfing, shooting cracks or recent avalanches.
On Wednesday, more snow than forecast blanketed the Sea to Sky region. We believe a natural avalanche cycle is likely happening this afternoon and into the evening.
On Tuesday, numerous human triggered avalanches up to size 1.5 were reported. Explosive control did trigger a persistent slab avalanche that failed on the mid-February facet interface size 2.
Touchy storm slabs are likely on Friday.
Avoid solar slopes when the sun comes out.
Up to 120 cm of settling storm snow sits above a crust on all aspects except high north facing slopes, where it sits on faceted snow that formed early March. Strong southwest winds have redistributed storm snow into toucy slabs on leeward slopes at the ridgeline. Below treeline the storm snow is settling out rapidly.
A layer of facets and surface hoar from mid February can be found down 100 to 140 cm.
Another layer of facets and surface hoar from late January can be found down 140 to 200 cm.
Wednesday Night
Cloudy with isolated flurries. 10 to 40 km/h southwest ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -5 °C. Freezing level valley bottom.
Thursday
Cloudy with some sunny periods and isolated flurries. 15 to 25 km/h southeast ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -2 °C. Freezing level 1500 m.
Friday
Cloudy with sunny periods. 10 to 15 km/h southeast ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -5 °C. Freezing level 1100 m.
Saturday
Cloudy with 5 to 10 cm of snow. 15 to 40 km/h southwest ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -3 °C. Freezing level 1200 m.
More details can be found in the Mountain Weather Forecast.
