Avalanche Forecast

Moderate - Freezing levels are uncertain on Monday

Temperatures are expected to remain warm Sunday before beginning to cool Monday as a weak Pacific front injects cooler and cloudier marine air into the region. SUNDAY: Freezing level starting near 2400 m, climbing to 2600 m, light west/southwest wind, no significant precipitation expected, increasing cloud cover throughout the day. MONDAY: Freezing level beginning near 2500 m, lowering throughout the day to around 1900 m by sunset, light to moderate southwest winds, 2 to 6 mm of precipitation expected, overcast skies. TUESDAY: Freezing level beginning near 1500 m rising to around 2000 m, broken cloud cover, light to moderate wind generally out of the west, isolated convective snow/rain flurries/showers possible. For more detailed mountain weather information visit avalanche.ca/weather

Lot's of activity to report from Friday.  Wet loose and wet slab avalanches failed naturally resulting in avalanches to size 3.  Glide crack failures to size 3 were also observed.  Loose wet avalanches to size 2 running on the ground were reported from the south of the region.  On Thursday, solar radiation continued to result in natural cornice falls up to size 2.5 and loose wet avalanches up to size 2.0. On Wednesday, slab and loose snow avalanches were reported up to size 2 on a variety of aspects, mostly triggered by cornices or solar radiation. On Tuesday numerous loose wet avalanches up to size 2.0 were reported, and one of these loose wet slides stepped down to a buried crust down 50 cm and resulted in a size 2.5 on a steep east aspect at 2200 metres.

Ongoing warm daytime temperatures combined with mild nights continue to destabilized the upper snowpack.  On Sunday, any surface crust is expected to break down early, and persistent weak layers may fail if the warming reaches their fragile structure. The late February surface hoar/crust layer is down 40-90 cm. This layer may continue to react to human triggers during high daytime temperatures. Loose wet avalanches in motion, or cornice failure could result in an avalanche that steps down to deeply buried weak layers. Cornices continue to be described as large and fragile, and may fail with continued warming. Conservative terrain without overhead hazard is a good strategy for avoiding the persistent slab problem.