Avalanche Forecast

Fair - Forecast snowfall amounts are uncertain

Overnight and Monday: Light snow overnight combined with moderate Southwest winds and freezing levels around 500 metres. Snow becoming moderate to heavy in the morning bringing 10-15 cm combined with strong Southwest winds during the day. The freezing level is expected to climb up to about 1200 metres.Tuesday: Snow ending by morning as the freezing level slides back down to about 500 metres. Expect strong Southwest winds.Wednesday: The next pulse of moisture should start during the day. Expect strong Southwest winds combined with the snow.

No new reports of avalanche activity since the cold air moved into the region. Forecast new snow and wind may create a storm slab by morning.

Cold dry new snow has started to bury the recently formed melt-freeze crusts and surface facets that developed over the last few cold days. The melt-freeze crusts were found on all aspects at treeline and below, and on all but North aspects in the alpine. The very warm alpine temperatures and strong solar radiation from last week caused a great deal of settlement in the old storm slab above the early February weak layer. The February weak layer of crusts and facets has been reported to be rounding and bonding in areas where the old storm slab is 150 cm or deeper. Shallow snow pack areas where the old storm slab is closer to a metre or less continue to give sudden planar shears in snow profile tests. North aspects in the alpine may have had enough warming to settle the storm snow into a cohesive slab, but not enough to improve the weak layer bond. Big un-supported alpine North aspects are the most likely place to find a well preserved deeply buried February weak layer that may continue to allow for long propagations resulting in very large avalanches.