Avalanche Forecast

Moderate - Recent weather patterns have resulted in a high degree of snowpack variability within the region.

Friday night: Scattered flurries up to 5 cm. Moderate to strong W wind. Freezing level rising to 1300 m near Smithers, around 1000 m north of Kispiox.

Saturday: Mix of sun and cloud with isolated flurries. Moderate to strong W wind. Freezing level 1300 m near Smithers, rising to 1000 m north of Kispiox.

Sunday: Mix of sun and cloud in the south of the region. Snowfall in the north. Strong SW wind. Freezing level rising to 1400 m.

Monday: Snowfall 10-20 cm. Strong SW wind. Freezing level 1200m.

Avalanche activity on Wednesday and Thursday was primarily natural and skier triggered loose dry sluffing and a few soft wind slabs up to size 1.5. On Thursday size 1 loose wet avalanches were observed below 1300 m in the west of the region.

20-30 cm of recent snow has accumulated over a variety of surfaces including facets, surface hoar, hard slab and in the southwest part of the region, a rain crust up to 1500 m. In wind loaded pockets, slabs may be reactive due to a poor bond with these underlying surfaces. In exposed alpine areas in the Telkwas, extensive wind effect has created supportive, hard surfaces.

Below this we have two persistent weak layers, the first is a surface hoar layer from mid-January buried down 30 to 40 cm. The second is a layer of facets from early January which is now down 50 to 80cm, it has been most reactive where wind slab has formed above it and will now likely require a large load to trigger.

• Keep in mind that human triggering potential persists as natural avalanching tapers off.
• Watch for newly formed and reactive wind slabs as you transition into wind affected terrain.
• Be careful with wind loaded pockets, especially near ridge crests and roll-overs.