Avalanche Forecast

Moderate

First things first. The amount of MINS that are getting submitted with great information regarding avalanche activity and snow conditions has been great to see, so thank you!

Natural avalanche activity is still ongoing with 1 or 2 notable slab avalanches happening daily. Check out this MIN reporting a recent avalanche on Buller.

Not a lot of positive change in the past day or so. The recent storm snow has continued to settle and become quite stiff, which gives the illusion of improvement. In reality, this stiffening layer is increasing the avalanche hazard by creating wider propagations while potentially increasing the user's comfort with what seems like a stable snowpack. Do not trust the snow! The Jan 30th facet/depth hoar layer is remarkably poor with large grains that are acting as ball bearings. It is down 40-70cm in most areas. Tests on this layer and interface have been oddly consistent with catastrophic failures under moderate loads. In technical terms: compression tests reliably fail in the hard range with sudden collapses in the Jan 30th layer.

Monday will be mostly cloudy with flurries. Snow amounts vary between models.

Winds will be strong (55km/h) out of the West .

Day time high will be -7

Freezing levels will be at valley bottom

More details can be found in the Mountain Weather Forecast.

• Watch for newly formed and reactive wind slabs as you transition into wind-affected terrain.
• Avoid exposure to overhead avalanche terrain; avalanches may run surprisingly far.
• Keep in mind that human triggering may persist as natural avalanches taper off.