Avalanche Forecast

Moderate

No new avalanches were reported on Saturday. On Friday, several skier-triggered wind slab avalanches were reported in the Fernie area. They were size 1 to 2, occurring in both alpine and open forested terrain, as illustrated in MIN reports here, here, and here.

Wind slab avalanches will continue to be a problem on Monday with more snow and wind expected. Deep persistent slab avalanches should also be on your radar in the Elkford and Flathead areas.

Up to 15 cm of new snow is possible on Monday, which will fall above various layers, including sun crusts and hard wind-affected snow. Sheltered, shaded areas will likely have deeper soft snow from last week.

In the Lizard range specifically, the mid-pack is consolidated with a supportive 10 to 20 cm thick frozen crust buried 80 to 100 cm.

In the Elkford and Flathead areas, deeply buried weak layers are slowly gaining strength but are still a concern, especially in steep rocky terrain features where the snowpack is thin.

Sunday night

Cloudy, flurries start in the early morning with trace accumulations of snow, 50 to 70 km/h southwest wind, treeline temperatures around -4 ºC.

Monday

Cloudy with scattered flurries bringing 5 to 15 cm of snow, 40 to 60 km/h southwest wind, treeline temperatures around -4 °C with freezing level around 1300 m.

Mix of sun and cloud, isolated flurries with trace amounts of snow, 20 km/h northeast wind, treeline temperatures drop to -8 °C.

Mix of sun and cloud, no significant precipitation, 30 km/h west wind, treeline temperatures around -6 °C.

More details can be found in the Mountain Weather Forecast.

• Watch for newly formed and reactive wind slabs as you transition into wind affected terrain.
• Pay attention to cornices and give them a wide berth when traveling on or below ridges.
• Avoid thin areas like rock outcroppings where you're most likely to trigger avalanches failing on deep weak layers.