Avalanche Forecast

High -

Sunday night: Cloudy with light flurries bringing up to 5 cm of new snow. Light to moderate southwest winds.

Monday: Cloudy with scattered flurries bringing about 5 cm of new snow, ending midday and beginning again overnight. Light southwest winds, increasing overnight. Alpine high temperatures around -5 with freezing levels to 1300 metres.

Tuesday: Cloudy with isolated flurries and a trace of new snow. Light south or southwest winds. Alpine high temperatures around -4.

Wednesday: Cloudy with flurries bringing up to 5 cm of new snow, increasing overnight. Light to moderate southeast winds, becoming strong at ridgetop and increasing overnight. Alpine high temperatures around -5.

Reports from Friday and Saturday included numerous more observations of recent avalanche activity, as well as several new ski cut storm slabs and wind slabs, with a trend toward smaller releases. (size 1-1.5). All aspects were represented in reports, with some emphasis on north through east aspects.

Wet loose releases from warm temperatures at lower elevations as well as sun exposure on steep high elevation slopes have also appeared throughout recent reports. Natural cornice triggers have also figured prominently.

An avalanche involvement in extreme terrain occurred in Glacier National Park on Saturday as well. Two skiers were caught in a size 2 slab release and one was partially buried. This marked up terrain image gives an idea of the event.

Looking forward, now that our recent snow has formed a more reliable bond with the old surface, areas of unstable snow should become increasingly limited to recently wind loaded pockets at higher elevations.

Regular snowfall over the past week brought about 40-80 cm of snow to the region, with the greatest accumulations focused heavily toward the Monashees. 

Elevated, mainly south winds over the same period redistributed much of this snow in the alpine and upper treeline. Warm temperatures promoted slab formation with each snowfall as well as fairly quick transitions to settlement and bonding of the new snow. 

Surface snow recently became moist or wet from warm temperatures, wet flurries, or rain up to at least 1500 metres. New melt-freeze crusts may be found on the surface below this elevation, particularly where more pronounced melt occurred.

The layer of surface hoar we have been tracking since late December has gained considerable strength in recent days. It is now buried roughly 90-130 cm deep in the Selkirks and 120-160 cm deep in the Monashees and exists primarily at treeline and below treeline. It may still be triggerable by a large load in shallower snowpack areas.

A facet/crust layer from late November may still be found near the bottom of the snowpack. This layer has been triggered by explosives in thinner alpine start zones in the Selkirks, but not in several weeks.

• Avoid freshly wind loaded terrain features.
• Be alert to conditions that change with elevation, aspect and exposure to wind.