Avalanche Forecast

Since the storm cleared up on Thursday, our field team observed a natural avalanche cycle up to size 3 from the highway in the inland areas around Paddy peak. We suspect that some of these may include step-downs to buried weak layers.

Our field team also observed new windslab avalanches up to size 2 and loose snow sluffing from steep alpine terrain around the White Pass.

30-50 cm of recent snow has been stiffened at the surface in the high alpine and transported into wind slabs by moderate winds at all exposed elevations. At lower elevations, the recent snow has settled in Thursday's mild temperatures.

The mid snowpack is generally hard with a couple of crusts buried 60+ cm and 100+ cm deep, these have been problematic on north to east aspects as high as 1700 m, where they are covered in an overlying layer of weak surface hoar crystals. In inland areas these weak layers are closer to the surface and are easier to trigger.

Recent large avalanches are suspected to have run on the deeper of the two layers.

Friday night

Possible Flurries. Moderate northeasterly wind. -18 ºC.

Saturday

Partly cloudy. Northeast wind 30 km/h except 40 km/h at valley bottom. Alpine temperature -20 ºC.

Sunday

Clear. Moderate to strong northeasterly outflow wind with ridge top speeds nearing 60 km/h. Alpine high -20 ºC.

Monday

Mostly sunny. Strong northeasterly outflow wind. Alpine temperatures climbing to -14 ºC.

More details can be found in the Mountain Weather Forecast.

• Be especially cautious as you transition into wind affected terrain.
• Stay off recently wind loaded slopes until they have had a chance to stabilize.
• Seek out sheltered terrain where new snow hasn't been wind-affected.
• Be mindful that deep instabilities are still present and have produced recent large avalanches.
• If triggered, wind slabs avalanches may step down to deeper layers resulting in larger avalanches.