Avalanche Forecast

Moderate - Uncertainty is due to the limited number of field observations. Confidence is due to a stable weather pattern with little change expected.

A weak front crossing the region brings clouds and light snow overnight Saturday into Sunday and is followed by a clearing trend. 

SATURDAY NIGHT: Cloudy with scattered flurries, light southwest wind, and alpine temperature inversion, which will bring warmer temperatures in the alpine (near -5C) than valley bottoms (near -15C).  

SUNDAY: Cloudy with sun breaks and isolated flurries with up to 5 cm of snow, light wind, treeline temperatures around -10 C. Mild alpine temperature inversion. 

MONDAY: Mix of sun and cloud, light wind, treeline temperatures around -12 C.

TUESDAY: Mix of sun and cloud, light wind, treeline temperatures around -13 C.

A few cornice failures were observed in recent days. Otherwise, no significant avalanche activity has been reported since Tuesday, when there was a cycle of natural wind slab avalanches. Sporadic deep persistent slab avalanche activity was reported 1-2 weeks ago (triggered with heavy loads such as explosives and cornices), but deeper weak layers should be unreactive under the current conditions.

Forecast new snow Saturday night of 2-5 cm will bury surface hoar and soft faceted surfaces. Alpine terrain has lingering wind slabs and wind affect. A crust exists near the surface below 1000 m. Large cornices may becoming weak with cold temperatures.

The middle snowpack is overall well settled. Some isolated surface hoar layers were reported in early January and, if preserved, would now be 30-60 cm deep. However, these layers have not been reported in any recent snowpack or avalanche observations. 

The lower snowpack has two decomposing crust layers that have been causing a deep persistent slab problem for most of the past month. The upper crust is 70-140 cm deep in the Smithers area and continues to show hard sudden results in snow pits. The deeper crust at the bottom of the snowpack continues to be a problem in shallow ranges like the Babines. These layers should be unreactive under the current conditions, but shallow rocky slopes should still be carefully assessed and approached with caution. 

• Be careful with wind loaded pockets, especially near ridge crests and roll-overs.
• Caution around slopes that are exposed to cornices overhead.
• Watch for areas of hard wind slab on alpine features.
• Be especially cautious near rock outcroppings, on steep convexities and anywhere the snowpack feels thinner than average.