Avalanche Forecast
Regions: Northwest Inland.
Expect new snow and strong winds to build reactive slabs, making human triggered avalanches likely.
Confidence
Low - Uncertainty is due to the limited number of field observations.
Weather Forecast
Monday Night: Flurries and snow, 10-15 cm. Alpine temperature -3 C. Southwest wind 30-40 gusting to 95 km/hr.
Tuesday: Flurries, 5-15 cm. Alpine temperature -3 C. Southwest wind 30 gusting to 90 km/hr.
Wednesday: More flurries, up to 10 cm. Alpine temperature -3 C. South wind 25-35 km/hr.
Thursday: Cloudy and scattered flurries, up to 5 cm. Alpine temperature -6 C. South wind 20-40 km/hr.
Avalanche Summary
There have been no recent reports of avalanche activity.
Snowpack Summary
5-10 cm new snow arriving Monday followed by 15-30 cm accumulating into Tuesday likely covered a weak layer of surface hoar and/or a crust on south-southwest aspects. Strong south-southwesterly winds have redistributed new snow and encouraged slab development, especially in places with deeper deposits.
The new storm snow sits over another 10-20 cm older snow which may cover a concerning layer of surface hoar that formed in areas sheltered from the wind. Reports suggest this layer can be found on all aspects up into treeline. In the alpine, the snow has buried hard wind slabs and/or sun crusts on south-facing terrain.
Snowpack depths are 50-100 cm in alpine areas around Smithers, with depths diminishing rapidly below 1500 m. The relatively thin snowpack has likely caused weak faceted snow to form near the ground.
Avalanche Problems
Storm Slabs
Expect new snow to be more touchy in areas with deeper deposits and where wind has encouraged slab development. At treeline, these slabs may be sitting on a recently buried weak layer of surface hoar.
Aspects: All aspects.
Elevations: All elevations.
Likelihood: Likely
Expected Size: 1 - 2