Avalanche Forecast

Moderate - Wind effect is extremely variable

The weather pattern is changing as the recent dominating arctic airmass slowly shifts south allowing a more regular pattern of Pacific frontal systems in.Saturday/ Sunday/ Monday: Mix of sun and cloud with an alpine temperatures near -6 and freezing levels at 700 m. Ridgetop winds light from the West. Check out the full synopsis here: http://www.avalanche.ca/weather/forecast

On Thursday, a size 2 slab avalanche was triggered from a heavy load of snow by machinery. The avalanche ran on the weak basal facets at ground level from a south aspect around 1700m. It did take a large load to trigger this avalanche, however; it may be a good indication of what a cornice failure may do or significant change to the snowpack like warming. Something to be kept on your radar as we transition into a warmer, wetter period next week.

Up to 20 cm of recent snow has buried a plethora of old snow surface. This interface consists of wind scoured surfaces and old wind slabs, widespread near surface faceting (sugary snow), surface hoar in sheltered locations, and/or a breakable sun crust on steep solar aspects. Recent moderate to strong winds from all directions has redistributed some of this new snow into reactive wind slabs on a variety of aspects. Below this exists a couple of old freezing rain crusts from late-December, depending on your location. The mid-December surface hoar/ facet layer typically sits down 40-70 cm. This layer is still reactive to some snowpack tests in some areas but is currently considered to be dormant or inactive. However; once the snowpack starts to see a big change, like warming then the likelihood of triggering may increase.