Avalanche Forecast

Fair - Due to the number and quality of field observations

The  Pacific cold front currently working its way across the Northwest Inland should have moved farther east and into the Rockies by Sunday morning. Upper elevations should receive 15 to 20 cm of snow along with moderate to strong SW winds. Freezing levels will have more seasonal values, rising during the  day to 1000m , then descending at night to the valley bottom. For more in-depth information see:http://www.avalanche.ca/weather

Limited observations yesterday because of the intensity and low ceilings associated with the storm. One commercial operation, however,  produced impressive results with explosives and reported several size 1.5's,  2 size 2's, and one size 3 avalanche in the recent storm slab.

The recent storm will have added additional load to the already reactive wind slabs in lee terrain at treeline and into the alpine. Snow and winds from earlier in the week have added size and destructive potential to the developing wind slab problem. There are a variety of interfaces including old wind slabs, hard crusts, surface hoar, and/or surface facets buried below the recent storm snow. At the base of the snowpack, weak facets may be found and could possibly be triggered with a big enough load such as a cornice failure. In other parts of the province there has been a surge in activity recently on old, buried weak layers that may be attributed to the rapid warming event that just occurred. Nevertheless, these old deeply buried layers could produce very large destructive avalanches if they are triggered. Cornices are now getting to be large and potentially unstable. Solar aspects are also a concern, especially in the afternoon.