Avalanche Forecast

Moderate - Wind effect is extremely variable

We're in warming trend with little if any precipitation during the weekend. Warm and wet Monday through Wednesday, stay tuned. SATURDAY: Cloudy with isolated flurries and a trace of new snow. Winds moderate (20-35 Km/hr) from the southwest. Freezing level rising to 800 metres with alpine temperatures -2 to -5 Celcius. SUNDAY: Sunny with increasing clouds in the afternoon. Winds light westerly. Freezing level 500m and alpine temperatures around -4 Celcius. MONDAY: Mix of rain and snow. Winds strong from the southwest. Freezing level 2000m and alpine high temperatures to +1 Celcius.

A video of a snowboarder caught Wednesday in a Size 2 avalanche near Brandywine (Chocolate Bowl) has gone viral. See the MIN post below for more details:http://www.avalanche.ca/map/forecasts/sea-to-sky?panel=mountain-information-network-submissions%2F8c832980-b83c-4b4f-a23d-540ed9bfe606A Size 2.5 natural was seen on the south aspect of Mt Currie near 2100m elevation on Thursday.

Wildly variable wind effect is the main story here. In the days since the last storm on Sunday-Monday, winds shifted to classic outflow (northerly) patterns with strong winds at ridge top for 24 hours. By and large this 'reverse loaded' snow in the alpine and also affected treeline elevations too. Touchy windslabs (5-40 cm thick) formed on southerly slopes near ridge crests and roll overs. These slabs are the primary weakness of concern in the snowpack and our colder-than-usual temperatures of late mean the upper snowpack will be slower than usual to heal. Deeper in the snowpack, the new snow from Sunday night and also last Friday is bonding fairly well to a variable surface consisting of a mix of soft wind slabs, hard wind slabs, sastrugi, faceted snow, and even some surface hoar. Snowpack layers below this interface are generally well bonded, and the lower snowpack is solid.