Avalanche Forecast

Moderate - Uncertainty is due to the fact that persistent slabs are particularly difficult to forecast.

WEDNESDAY NIGHT - Mainly cloudy with isolated flurries / southwest wind, 20-30 km/h / alpine low temperature near -8 

THURSDAY - Flurries, 5-10 cm / southwest wind, 60-80 km/h gusting to 100 km/h / alpine high temperature near -3 / freezing level 1000 m

FRIDAY - Snow, 10-20 cm / southwest wind, 50-70 km/h / alpine high temperature near -2 / freezing level 1000 m

SATURDAY - Flurries, 10-15 cm / south wind, 30-60 km/h / alpine high temperature near -3 / freezing level 800 m

With continued snow and moderate southwest wind, avalanches will likely remain easy to trigger on Thursday, especially in wind loaded areas.

There was a natural avalanche cycle reported on Tuesday, as well as numerous explosives triggered avalanches up to size 2.5 and a few human triggered size 1 avalanches.

On Monday, there were reports of widespread natural and explosives triggered avalanches up to size 3. The largest avalanches were reported in the north of the region where there has been more recent snow. The avalanches being reported closer to Terrace were generally in the size 1-2 range.

There were a few natural and explosives triggered storm slab avalanches size 1-2.5 reported in the region on Sunday.

5-10 cm in the forecast for Thursday will bring recent storm snow totals to between 50-80 cm.

In the Shames area, a weak layer of surface hoar has been reported in sheltered areas down around 100-160 cm. 

A bit further north in the Nass/Sterling/Beaupre areas, there is potentially still concern about an older weak layer overlying a crust that is now roughly 160-180 cm deep. 

In the far north of the region, there is concern about weak snow at the bottom of the snowpack.

• Continue to make conservative terrain choices while the storm snow settles and stabilizes.
• Avoid freshly wind loaded terrain features.
• Storm slabs in motion may step down to deeper layers resulting in large avalanches.