Avalanche Forecast

Fair - Due to variable snowpack conditions for the entire period

Overnight and Friday: There is a chance of a couple of cms overnight as a weak band of moist air moves across the region. Strong Northwesterly winds overnight are expected to diminish to moderate during the day. There may be a period of broken skies or mostly clear skies in the afternoon. Alpine temperatures are expected to be about -3.0 and the freezing level should be about 1300 metres.Saturday: The moist air on the South side of the trough is expected to bring 10-15 cms of snow to the region as it passes through from the Northwest. Upslope areas in the West Monashee may see enhanced snow fall amounts during periods of convective flurries as the trailing cold front passes.Sunday: The next weak ridge of high pressure is expected to develop over the interior, bringing cooler temperatures and drier conditions.

Explosives control resulted in avalanches up to size 2.5 in the North Selkirks. Natural avalanches occurred in the highway corridor up to size 3.0, and in remote areas up to size 2.5. Skiers controlled avalanches up to size 1.5 and some were surprised by accidental releases up to size 1.0

There is a lot of variability in the depth of the new snow slab and the new wind slabs. Areas that received 30-40 cms of new snow have developed thick new wind slabs at higher elevations that may be triggered by light additional loads. The storm slab in these areas has been reported to be reactive to skiers, as it slides easily on a layer of surface hoar that developed just previous to the latest storm. In some areas there is a sun crust that developed during the sunny weather last weekend that is a smooth and fast sliding layer for the new storm slab. Deeper weak layers continue to show planar results in snow profile tests down about 70 cms and also at about 100 cms. These deeper layers are less likely to be triggered by skiers, but cornice falls or other large triggers may step down and result in large avalanches.