Avalanche Forecast

Moderate -

Up to another 5cm of new snow is forecast to fall in the South Columbia mountains by Sunday evening as light winds shift to the west. Freezing levels will begin a downward trend on Monday. Only trace amounts of new snow are expected for Monday while Tuesday will see cloud cover decreasing and winds shifting to the northwest.

Stormy weather prevented observations at alpine elevations, but new snow was observed sluffing up to size 1 at treeline and below on Saturday, in addition to skier triggered size 1 and natural size 2+ avalanches reported in Rogers Pass on Saturday. Explosives control in the Revelstoke area on Friday also yielded numerous size 2 results with slab thickness reaching up to 80cm in depth. Danger from storm slab avalanche activity is expected to persist while new snow undergoes settlement.

Up to 25 cm of new snow fell on Saturday under moderate to strong southerly winds. This new snow now covers the already touchy storm slabs that existed in exposed areas at treeline and above. On solar aspects these slabs have been reactive above a sun/temperature crust which formed on November 22 and can be found 30-50cm deep in the snowpack. The thick, widespread November 13 crust now lies up to a metre below the surface. Below this crust the mid and lower snowpack are well consolidated, with moist snow present at treeline and below. Isothermal snow can be found at the base of the snowpack.