Avalanche Forecast

Moderate - Due to the number of field observations

THURSDAY NIGHT: Snow. Accumulation 10-15 cm. Ridge wind light southeast possibly strong at times. Temperature -22. Freezing level surface.FRIDAY: Cloudy, snow developing and overnight. Accumulation 10-20 cm. Ridge wind light northeast possibly strong at times. Temperature -22. Freezing level surface.SATURDAY: Mix of sun and cloud, flurries. Accumulation 5-10 cm. Ridge wind light southwest. Temperature -20. Freezing level surface.SUNDAY: Mostly sunny. Ridge wind light southwest. Temperature -14. Freezing level surface.

Limited reports suggest triggering slab avalanches remains possible. Two skier triggered avalanches have been reported east of the divide the past few days. One was a small wind slab triggered in a steep gully and the other was a larger persistent slab (size 2) triggered low on a slope that propagated up and across the slope on a 50 cm deep crust. The later highlights the potential for persistent slab avalanches to have wide propagations.

Up to 10 cm of new snow fell overnight Wednesday and during the day on Thursday and overlies up to 60 cm of old storm snow in southern and eastern parts of the region and 30 cm in the Elk Valley. Wind has formed harder wind slabs in exposed terrain, but low density storm snow remains in sheltered areas.The main question in the snowpack surrounds the mid-December layer sitting beneath the recent snow. This layer includes crusts on solar aspects and feathery surface hoar in sheltered terrain at and below treeline, and has produced whumpfing as well as moderate, sudden results in recent snowpack tests. The lower snowpack is composed of mostly soft sugary snow and a few early season crusts that have not produced significant test results recently.For an update on recent conditions check out the Mountain Information Network (MIN) report here. And please post your own reports!