Avalanche Forecast

Moderate - Forecast snowfall amounts are uncertain

5-10cm of snow with moderate southwesterly winds on Friday night. No snow forecasted for rest of forecast period. Freezing levels rise sharply on Monday to 3000+m.

Several skier triggered storm slab avalanches to size 2 were reported on Thursday. These were primarily triggered in lee features at treeline. One natural storm slab size 1.5 was observed on an east aspect at 2000m.

5cm of new snow brings the storm slab to 35-45 cm and can be found across most of the region. This new snow lies above a variable old surface buried at the end of January. This interface is being reported as a layer of surface hoar at treeline in the Rossland area. However, in most other parts of the region the new snow sits on a rain crust and/or old wind slabs. A weak layer buried mid-January can be found down 45-50cm, however, snow pit tests indicate that this layer is gaining strength. Deeper in the snowpack, the persistent weak layer that was buried earlier in January is now down 80-120 cm and continues to give sudden planar fractures in snowpack tests under moderate to heavy loads.