Avalanche Forecast

Fair - Timing or intensity of solar radiation is uncertain on Saturday

Any lingering precipitation should peter out on Friday, leading into a dry weekend. Temperatures warm on Saturday afternoon, when the freezing level is forecast to spike up to 2800 m. Winds are light to moderate from the north. Any lingering precipitation should peter out on Friday, leading into a dry weekend. Temperatures warm on Saturday afternoon, when the freezing level is forecast to spike up to 2800 m. Winds are light to moderate from the north.

Sometime during the last few days, a natural cornice fall triggered a large slab avalanche in steep, rocky alpine terrain near Smithers (see the latest Mountain Information Network post for pictures and more details). Loose wet avalanches to size 1.5 were also noted on Tuesday in response to warming and solar radiation.

Cornices are weak and may fail with warm temperatures. In general, snow surfaces are highly variable. In the south of the region, melt freeze conditions exist below about 1800 m. Above this you'll likely find settled wind slabs on north facing terrain, and a melt freeze crust on solar aspects. Between 15 and 40 cm below the surface you may find weak surface hoar which was buried on February 10th. Although recent warming may have destroyed this potentially weak layer in some areas, I'd dig down and test for this layer at upper elevations where colder temperatures may have allowed for this weakness to persist. In general, the mid snowpack is strong and well-settled, and at the base of the snowpack, facets which formed earlier in the season have gone dormant for the time being. Further north in the region, slightly cooler temperatures have persisted and melt freeze conditions are not as widespread. In these areas deeper persistent weaknesses are more likely to exist.