Avalanche Forecast
Regions: Bonnington, Kootenay Boundary, Kootenay Pass, Norns, Rossland, South Okanagan, Ymir.
Continually assess the snowpack for signs of instability with changing weather conditions. Expect hazard to increase as snow accumulates and freezing levels rise.
Confidence
Moderate
Avalanche Summary
A number of small storm slab avalanches have occurred over the previous week, failing on a recently buried layer of surface hoar.
Please continue to share any observations or photos on the Mountain Information Network.
Snowpack Summary
Expect continued surface slab development throughout the day with forecast snow and wind. Roughly 40 cm of recent snow has buried a layer of surface hoar in wind-sheltered terrain, primarily at the treeline and below.
A melt-freeze crust is buried by roughly 70 to 90 cm. This crust ranges from 2 cm at higher elevations to 10 cm at lower elevations. Below the crust, the mid-snowpack is generally well consolidated.
A weak layer of facets and a crust near the bottom of the snowpack continues to be a concern.
Treeline snow depths are roughly 160 to 220 cm.
Weather Summary
Thursday night
Cloudy with snow, 5 to 10 cm. Moderate south ridgetop winds. Treeline temperatures around 0 C. Freezing levels 2000 m by early Friday morning.
Friday
Cloudy with snow, 5 to 10 cm. Moderate to strong south ridgetop winds. Treeline temperatures around 0 C. Freezing levels 2000 m.
Saturday
Cloudy with snow, 10 to 15 cm overnight and 5 to 10 cm throughout the day. Moderate south ridgetop winds. Treeline temperatures around 0 C. Freezing levels 1600 m.
Sunday
Cloudy with light snow, 2 to 10 cm. Light south ridgetop winds. Treeline temperatures 0 to -5 C.
More details can be found in the Mountain Weather Forecast.
Terrain and Travel Advice
- Watch for fresh storm slabs building throughout the day.
- Closely monitor how the new snow is bonding to the old surface.
- In areas where deep persistent slabs may exist, avoid shallow or variable depth snowpacks and unsupported terrain features.
Avalanche Problems
Storm Slabs
Expect storm slab reactivity and size to increase throughout the day. In sheltered terrain, roughly 40 cm of recent snow may be overlying a weak layer of surface hoar.
Aspects: All aspects.
Elevations: All elevations.
Likelihood: Likely
Expected Size: 1 - 2.5
Deep Persistent Slabs
Human triggering of deep weak layers remains possible in terrain with shallow, variable snowpacks. Where supportive to riders, a melt-freeze crust may be providing a bridging effect, making it more difficult to trigger deeper layers.
Aspects: All aspects.
Elevations: Alpine, Treeline.
Likelihood: Unlikely
Expected Size: 2 - 3.5