Avalanche Forecast

Temperatures are expected to drop to -18 tonight in the Spray Valley, and even colder down in the Bow Valley. Sunday should be a mainly cloudy day with the occasional snow flake falling, but no accumulations are expected. Daytime highs will be near -11c with light winds.

Nothing new today.

Surface hoar continues to grow in sheltered areas at lower elevations. Due to the cold temperatures there is also significant surface faceting occurring. There remains very little wind effect on the recent snow, even in the Alpine, however forecasters did note some snow movement at mountain top today. The recent 25 to 30cm of low density surface snow sits over a wide variety of layers, including hard wind slabs, crusts and surface hoar. During the storm, the region experienced a widespread avalanche cycle involving this new snow, but in recent days there has been little to no activity. The November rain crust is faceting out, but the condition of the crust is becoming quite variable. In some areas it remains dense and easily carries the weight of a skier, while in other areas it has broken down significantly.

• Be careful with wind loaded pockets, especially near ridge crests and roll-overs.
• Avoid thin areas like rock outcroppings where you're most likely to trigger avalanches failing on deep weak layers.