Avalanche Forecast

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Avalanche Canada's Mountain Weather Forecast is now in winter mode focusing on snow amounts, freezing levels and other aspects of weather important to assessing winter conditions in the mountains. These daily briefings are available here at avalanche.ca/weather

SPOTWX (spotwx.com) is a good resource for local scale weather forecasts.

Avalanche danger will rise during and immediately after a snow storm. If the temperature rises during or after a storm, or if there is rain, avalanche danger is likely to rise further. Avalanches are more likely if local reports include observations of weak layers.

If there's enough snow to ride, there's enough snow to slide.

Winter-like wind and storm slabs form readily in alpine bowls--this is generally where avalanches first start to occur. On smooth terrain like glaciers, slopes where there was summer snow, grassy slopes, shale slopes and rock slabs as little as 30cm of snow is enough to create avalanches. On rougher terrain, 50-100 cm snow is generally required.

In some areas, early season weak layers may form. The most common scenario is a layer of sugary snow (facets) that grows near the ground when temperatures get cold and there isn't much snow cover. Facets may also be found on glaciers at the bottom of this seasons snowfall.