Avoid avalanche terrain during periods of rapid loading from new snow and/or wind.
Avoid avalanche terrain during stormy conditions when large natural and human triggered avalanches are expected. The largest and most reactive slabs will likely be on north through east aspects.
On Saturday multiple very large (size 3) avalanches were reported near the Wolf's Den area north of Terrace.
On Friday several large and very large natural avalanches were reported near Shames. See the photo below for more details.
With continued precipitation and strong to extreme winds in the forecast we can expect this widespread natural avalanche cycle to continue into Sunday.
Please consider submitting your observations to the Mountain Information Network.
More precipitation and strong to extreme southwesterly winds in the forecast are expected to continue building storm slabs throughout the night and into Sunday.
Storm slabs will be building everywhere, but will be particularly reactive on north and east facing slopes near ridgetops.
Around 70 to 110 cm of recent storm snow may be overlying variable snow surfaces, including small facets and/or surface hoar in sheltered areas and heavily wind-affected snow in exposed terrain.
A crust from early November can be found down 100 to 150 cm. Below this prominent crust are several other crust layers from October.
Saturday Night
Cloudy with 10 to 20 cm of snow. 60 to 80 km/h southwest ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -4 °C.
Sunday
Cloudy with 10 to 20 cm of snow. 80 km/h southwest ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -2 °C.
Monday
Cloudy with 5 to 15 cm of snow or light to moderate rain below 1700 m. 100 km/h southwest ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature 0 °C. Freezing level rising to 1700 m.
Tuesday
Cloudy with light to moderate rain. 80 km/h southwest ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature 2 °C. Freezing level rising to 2400 m.
More details can be found in the Mountain Weather Forecast.
