There is snow on the horizon, but it's hard to say how much. This new snow should bump danger up a notch. Are you a member of Avalanche Canada? Join today at avalanche.ca/membership
Confidence
Fair - Forecast snowfall amounts are uncertain on Monday
Weather Forecast
The ridge of high pressure maintains dry conditions on Sunday with a freezing level a little over 1000 m. An approaching Arctic cold front should result in increasing cloud late Sunday and light snow beginning overnight or on Monday. Some areas could see 10 cm or more on Monday. The freezing level is at valley bottom and ridge winds are moderate from the NE. Tuesday should be a drier, sunnier and cooler day under the influence of the Arctic High.
Avalanche Summary
No new avalanches have been reported recently.
Snowpack Summary
A couple centimetres of new snow sits on the previous snow surface, which was a mix of surface hoar, crusts, wind affected surfaces, or dry powder. The most prominent snowpack features is a thick supportive crust just below the surface. It extends up to around 2200m. Below this elevation the crust is effectively capping the snowpack, preventing riders from tickling deeper persistent weak layers. In alpine areas, where the crust is not present or is less thick, it could still be possible to trigger a deep avalanche from sparsely covered rocky slopes or with a heavy load (i.e. cornice fall).
Problems
Persistent Slabs
Persistent Slab avalanches are the release of a cohesive layer of snow (a slab) in the middle to upper snowpack, when the bond to an underlying persistent weak layer breaks. Persistent layers include: surface hoar, depth hoar, near-surface facets, or faceted snow. Persistent weak layers can continue to produce avalanches for days, weeks or even months, making them especially dangerous and tricky. As additional snow and wind events build a thicker slab on top of the persistent weak layer, this avalanche problem may develop into a Deep Persistent Slab.