Avalanche Forecast

Fair - Forecast snowfall amounts are uncertain on Wednesday

Snow is expected to continue during the day on Tuesday and taper off during the night, bringing an additional 5-10 cm for the interior regions by Wednesday morning. A weak upper ridge is forecast to build over the southern interior on Wednesday that should cause light southwesterly winds and scattered flurries. There may be periods of sun in the eastern Monashees and Selkirks, and in the northern Purcells. A weak upper trough is forecast to push up from the U.S. border on Thursday bringing moderate precipitation to the southern and Eastern regions. Freezing levels are expected to climb up to about 1800 metres as the trough advances. The upper flow is expected to shift to the southeast with light alpine winds, broken skies with sunny periods, and freezing levels up to 1800 metres in the south and east regions of the interior.

There were two reports of accidentally triggered size 3.0 avalanches that released on the deeply buried persistent weak layer from mid-February. Both were reported by groups of snowmobilers who were in the southern Purcell mountains near Kimberley in the Kootenay-Boundary region. Reports of avalanches on this layer are getting less frequent. Rising freezing levels forecast for Thursday and Friday may continue to promote releases that result in wide propagations on this layer.

Strong southerly winds combined with new snow to develop thin new windslabs in the alpine and at treeline. Operators report that periods of broken skies on Sunday did not create widespread moist surface snow. It was reported to be warm enough to help settle the recent new snow and storm slab. The combined slab above the mid-february persistent weak layer is now between 150-200 cm. Some operators continue to get easy-moderate sudden planar character shears on the mid-february surface hoar in shallow areas. Snowpack conditions continue to be tricky to evaluate, and are variable throughout the region. Forecast strong wind and new snow may develop new windslabs in the alpine and at treeline.