Avalanche Forecast

Moderate - Forecast snowfall amounts are uncertain

THURSDAY NIGHT: 5-15 cm of snow, moderate southeast wind, alpine temperatures drop to -10 C.FRIDAY: Isolated flurries with trace accumulations, light south wind, alpine high temperatures around -6 C.SATURDAY: Cloudy then clearing later in the day, light wind, alpine high temperatures around -6 C.SUNDAY: Mix of sun and cloud, light wind, alpine high temperatures around -8 C.

On Thursday, skier traffic produced small (size 1) wind slabs near ridges and some minor sluffing in steep terrain.Similar avalanche activity was reported over the past few days. On Wednesday, a size 1.5 slab avalanche was observed on a steep southwest-facing line in the Whistler/Blackcomb backcountry (see this MIN report). On Tuesday night, a widespread cycle of small (size 1) loose dry avalanches occurred. Over the weekend, small pockets of wind slab were reactive to skier traffic in steep and immediate lee features. Of note is a MIN from the Whistler backcountry reporting wind slabs at lower elevations and in more sheltered terrain than usual (see the MIN here).

Areas around Squamish could see up to 20 cm of new snow by Friday afternoon, while much less is expected further north. Recent wind has scoured and redistributed the snow from earlier this week into fresh wind slabs in lee terrain. Sheltered areas may still have 10 to 30 cm of low density snow. Due to the scouring and wind-loading, anywhere from 0-100 cm of snow sits on a crust on all aspects below 2000 m and solar aspects into the alpine. Above 1800 m, recent cold temperatures have been working to facet and break down the crust. In sheltered terrain at and below treeline, a layer of weak feathery surface hoar or sugary facets may be identified, but this interface has produced little recent avalanche activity. The remainder of the snowpack is generally well-settled.