Avalanche Forecast

Moderate - Uncertainty is due to the limited number of field observations.

TUESDAY NIGHT: Cloudy with isolated flurries and trace amounts of snow, light wind from the south, treeline temperatures drop to -6 C.

WEDNESDAY: Mostly cloudy skies with some convective flurries bringing localized accumulations of 5 to 10 cm, light wind from the south with moderate gusts during flurries, treeline temperatures reach -4 C.

THURSDAY: Mostly sunny, light wind from the north, treeline temperatures around -6 C.

FRIDAY: Mostly sunny, light wind from the northeast, treeline temperatures around -6 C.

There have been limited observations over the past few days due to poor weather. Some small (size 1) slab and loose avalanches were reported at lower elevations on Monday and a larger (size 2) wind slab was triggered by a rider on a northeast aspect at 1900 m near Valemount on Sunday. Recent snow should stabilize relatively quickly with the possible expection of wind loaded slopes at higher elevations.

Recent flurries delivered 5 to 15 cm of snow to most parts of the region, with localized accumulations of up to 25 cm around Blue River. The new snow has been quickly settling due to mild temperatures. It sits above a wide variety of hard layers, including wind-affected snow on alpine slopes and a sun crust on steep south-facing slopes, as well as potentially some isolated surface hoar crystals in sheltered terrain. The lower snowpack is generally well settled with some prominent crust layers 40 to 100 cm deep. Around Blue River there have been some isolated reports of weak surface hoar crystals around these crusts, but there has been minimal evidence that these layers could still produce avalanches.

• Be carefull around freshly wind loaded features.
• Use ridges or ribs to avoid areas of wind loaded snow.
• Caution around convexities or sharp changes in terrain.
• Back off if you encounter whumpfing, hollow sounds, or shooting cracks.