Avalanche Forecast

Moderate - Due to the number of field observations

Monday: 5-10cm of new snow / Moderate westerly winds / Freezing level at 700mTuesday: 5-10cm of new snow / Moderate southerly winds / Freezing level at 400mWednesday: 5-10cm of new snow / Moderate southerly winds / Freezing level at 1000m

There have been no new reports of avalanche activity, but that may speak more to a lack of observations rather than actual conditions. On Sunday, an impressive natural storm slab avalanche cycle is expected to have occurred in response to new snow and wind particularly in the northwest side of the region. With ongoing stormy weather I would expect continued storm slab activity at all elevation bands throughout Tuesday

By Monday morning expect about 30-60 cm of snow to have fallen in the past 48 hours. Thanks to the winds, I would anticipate redistribution of the recent storm snow at all elevation bands with storm slabs lurking in lee and cross-loaded featuresBetween 40-90cm below the surface you'll likely find the most recent crust that was buried mid-January. This crust exists on almost all aspects and elevations with the exception of northerly aspects above 1850 m and has produced moderate to hard, sudden results in recent snowpack tests.Beneath this crust the mid and lower snowpack layers including the mid-December and late-November crust layers continue to produce hard, sudden results in snowpack tests in the northern part of the region and may still be a concern for step-down potential.