Avalanche Forecast

Moderate - Forecast snowfall amounts are uncertain on Tuesday

TUESDAY: Snow (5-10cm). Ridge wind strong, southwest. Temperature near -4. Freezing level 400 m.WEDNESDAY: Mostly sunny. Ridge wind moderate to strong from the north / west. Temperature -7. Freezing level valley bottom.THURSDAY: Cloudy with flurries. Ridge wind strong from the west. Temperature -8. Freezing level valley bottom.

Throughout the weekend we received reports of continued natural wind slab activity near Smithers. See this MIN report for the latest. On Saturday we received several reports of natural avalanches to size 3 (particularly on northeast facing slopes at higher elevations) as the winds picked up and slab avalanches ran surprisingly far. See this MIN post for more information. See here for a stunning photo of a large avalanche. Also on Saturday, explosives control produced size 2.5 avalanches in below tree line terrain north of Smithers. Farther south but also below treeline, skiers were able to trigger a size 2 persistent slab avalanche on a south facing sparsely treed (deciduous) slope just north of Hankin. See here for the MIN report.

Strong north / west winds blew throughout the long weekend, redistributing last week's storm snow and creating touchy wind slabs at higher elevations. A strong inversion also set up with tree line temperatures near 0 degrees and a thin crust formed on steep south facing slopes.Last week's storm delivered between 15-50 cm of new snow, bringing totals to 40-100 cm over the past week. Areas near Smithers and farther south saw higher snowfall amounts than areas to the north. A crust and/or weak feathery surface hoar layer buried in mid-January now lies about 100 cm below the surface. The crust exists well into the alpine and the surface hoar can be found in sheltered areas in the lower alpine and tree line elevations. Snowpack tests produced hard, sudden results on weak, sugary snow crystals associated with this crust in the Smithers area, indicating that this is still a layer of concern to watch for.Another two crust / surface hoar layers that were buried in December are now 100-150 cm below the surface. These layers produced sudden results in recent snowpack tests and have been the suspected weak layer in recent large remotely (from a distance) triggered avalanches.