Avalanche Forecast

Fair - Forecast snowfall amounts are uncertain on Saturday

The cold arctic air should begin to be pushed out of the region starting this evening. Strong northeast outflow winds may continue into the evening, and then be replaced with moderate to strong southerly winds by Friday afternoon. Coastal areas may receive 5-10 cm by Friday morning, and a further 10-20 cm during the day on Friday. Inland areas are expected to get about half as much snow during this period. Freezing levels are expected to remain near the valley bottoms in the Smithers area, and may rise to about 700 metres briefly on Friday afternoon near Terrace. Temperatures are expected to rise to about -4.0 at treeline on Friday and then drop slightly to about -7.0 at treeline on Saturday. Strong south-southwest winds on Saturday should continue on Sunday. A series of Pacific frontal systems will continue to bring precipitation over the next few days.

Some natural and cornice triggered avalanches up to size 2.0 have been reported from slopes that were loaded by the recent strong NE winds.

The deep snowpack is considered to be well settled with no persistent layers of concern. Some areas have about 20 cm of dry cold snow above the old storm snow that ended about January 8th. Windslabs that have developed due to strong NE outflow winds have not bonded to this layer. Some areas have developed surface hoar or surface facetting on sheltered slopes in the alpine and at treeline.