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Avalanche Forecast

Archived

Feb 4th, 2026–Feb 5th, 2026

Alpine
Natural avalanches possible, human triggered probable.
Treeline
Natural avalanches possible, human triggered probable.
Below Treeline
Natural avalanches possible, human triggered probable.
Alpine
Natural avalanches possible, human triggered probable.
Treeline
Natural avalanches possible, human triggered probable.
Below Treeline
Natural avalanches unlikely, human triggered possible.
Alpine
Natural avalanches unlikely, human triggered possible.
Treeline
Natural avalanches unlikely, human triggered possible.
Below Treeline
Natural avalanches unlikely.

Regions

Kootenay Boundary, Purcells, Bonnington, Grohman, Kootenay Pass, Norns, Ymir, Crawford, Kokanee, Retallack.

Make conservative terrain choices while warm temperatures continue to consolidate the upper snowpack into cohesive slabs atop a widespread, persistent weak layer.

Confidence

Moderate

  • We are uncertain due to how buried persistent weak layers will react with the forecast weather.

Avalanche Summary

A widespread avalanche cycle occurred over the weekend on the late-January surface hoar layer atop a crust, producing avalanches up to size 2.

Since then, several smaller natural and human-triggered slab avalanches (size 1–1.5) have been reported across the region, also failing on the late-January layer.

In general, recent avalanche activity has been most common near treeline, on a variety of aspects.

Snowpack Summary

Generally, crusty, refrozen surfaces are expected by Thursday morning. Moist snow surfaces may exist in isolated areas that do not experience a full overnight refreeze.

With warm temperatures and sunny skies forecasted, snow surfaces are likely to become moist throughout the day on all aspects and elevations.

Approximately 30 to 40 cm of snow sits atop a layer buried in late January, consisting of a widespread surface hoar layer resting on a melt-freeze crust, with up to 15 cm of weak, faceted snow immediately below the crust.

The mid and lower snowpack remain well settled, with no significant concerns.

Weather Summary

Wednesday Night
Clear skies. 30 km/h west ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature 4 °C. Freezing level 3300 m.

Thursday
Sunny. 20 km/h west ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature 5 °C. Freezing level 3500 m.

Friday
Sunny. 20 km/h southwest ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature 4 °C. Freezing level 3100 m.

Saturday
Mix of sun and clouds. 1 to 3 mm of precipitation as snow or rain at treeline. 30 km/h southwest ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature 0 °C. Freezing level 2200 m.

More details can be found in the Mountain Weather Forecast.

Terrain and Travel Advice

  • The more the snowpack warms up and weakens, the more conservative your terrain selection should be.
  • Avoid areas where the snow feels stiff and/or slabby.
  • Remote triggering is a concern; avoid terrain where triggering overhead slopes is possible.
  • Avoid travelling on slopes below cornices.

Problems

Persistent Slabs

Persistent Slab avalanches are the release of a cohesive layer of snow (a slab) in the middle to upper snowpack, when the bond to an underlying persistent weak layer breaks. Persistent layers include: surface hoar, depth hoar, near-surface facets, or faceted snow. Persistent weak layers can continue to produce avalanches for days, weeks or even months, making them especially dangerous and tricky. As additional snow and wind events build a thicker slab on top of the persistent weak layer, this avalanche problem may develop into a Deep Persistent Slab.

Loose Wet

Loose Wet avalanches are the release of wet unconsolidated snow or slush. These avalanches typically occur within layers of wet snow near the surface of the snowpack, but they may quickly gouge into lower snowpack layers. Like Loose Dry Avalanches, they start at a point and entrain snow as they move downhill, forming a fan-shaped avalanche. Other names for loose-wet avalanches include point-release avalanches or sluffs. Loose Wet avalanches can trigger slab avalanches that break into deeper snow layers.