Avalanche Forecast

Fair - Timing or intensity of solar radiation is uncertain on Thursday

Overnight and Wednesday: Mostly cloudy in the South with flurries beginning overnight. The South of the region is forecast to receive up to 10 cms of snow due to a weak low pressure system moving along the U.S. border. The North of the region is expected to remain mostly clear and dry.Thursday: Mostly sunny and dry in the North. Lingering cloud and convective flurries in the South with moderate Northwest winds.Friday: Mostly sunny and dry with alpine temperatures about -8.0 and light Northwest winds.

Natural avalanches up to size 3.0 continue to be reported failing on the February 12th surface hoar that is buried down about 120-150 cms. Some smaller avalanches size 2.0 were reported failing down about 40 cms in the storm snow. A couple of natural cornice falls also occurred.

The storm snow is expected to settle and bond to the old surface over the next few days. A crust has formed up to about 1800 metres where the recent warm storm had turned to rain. In the alpine there may be a weak layer in the storm snow that was developed during a temperature change in the middle of the storm. Below the storm snow lies a highly reactive weak layer of surface hoar (and/or a crust) which was buried on February 12th. Deeper persistent weak layers from early February and late January continue to show planar failures when moderate to hard forces are applied in snow pack tests. In particular, in the Monashees, a rain crust buried down 150 cm has been responsible for a couple of recent large, surprising avalanches.