Avalanche Forecast

Good

Flurries are expected to end today and skies should clear by dinner time causing overnight temperatures to drop below freezing in the valley bottoms. Tuesday is forecast to be sunny with light northwest winds at ridgetops. Alpine temperatures should stay close to -10.0 in the afternoon. Steep solar aspects may see some moist snow at treeline. High pressure is expected to continue to dominate the area on Wednesday causing continued clear skies and light northerly winds. Clear skies are forecast to continue on Thursday morning. The wind is expected to veer to the southwest by the afternoon, and the freezing level may rise up to about 2200 metres in advance of the next system moving in from the Pacific.

Reports from Sunday were limited to small avalanches size 1-1.5 from all aspects. I suspect that we will get some reports later today when the skies clear and visibility improves.

The freezing level went up to about 1500 metres on Sunday during a period of strong southwest winds and heavy precipitation. There is moist snow up to about 1700-1800 metres. Windslabs have developed in the alpine and at treeline on North through East aspects. The heaviest snowfalls coincided with the cooling phase as the cold front moved across the region. There was a weak layer of buried stellars earlier in the week that was giving moderate sudden planar shears. This layer is now buried between 60-90 cm. Areas in the south of the region that are nearer to the coast received significantly more precipitation over the weekend.