Avalanche Forecast

Fair - Due to the number of field observations

Mainly cloudy and dry for most of the day on Wednesday with light snow starting in the evening and continuing all day Thursday before picking up on Friday with 5-10 cm expected by Friday evening. temperatures are expected to gradually increase throughout the forecast period with daytime highs nearing zero degrees in valley bottoms by Friday. Ridge top winds should remain light from the southwest.

There we no new reports of avalanches on Monday or Tuesday morning.

Surface hoar is growing on a thick hard supportive rain crust that extends as high as 2100 m. Sun-exposed slopes are undergoing daily surface melt-freeze cycles, while shady slopes have a skiff of dry snow on the crust. Critical slopes are high elevation north aspects where facets or buried surface hoar from earlier in the month may be lurking under dense storm slabs, and older facet/crust weaknesses may be persisting. Recent snowpack tests at 2050 m in a NW aspect in Kootenay Pass produced moderate sudden results down 35 cm under the late-November crust and down 79 cm on facets above the early-November crust. Meanwhile in the Southern Purcells, snowpack tests gave easy sudden planer results on well preserved surface hoar where it was found down 30 cm on high north aspects.