Avalanche Forecast

High -

A ridge of high pressure brings some clearing before the next system arrives on Sunday afternoon bringing active weather for Monday. 

Saturday night: Partly cloudy, moderate W wind, freezing levels dropping to valley bottom. 

Sunday: Mostly cloudy in the morning with sunny breaks, snowfall in the afternoon 5-15 cm, winds becoming strong SW, freezing levels reaching around 1200 m.

Sunday night: Snowfall 15-30 cm, strong SW wind, freezing levels around 1000 m.

Monday: Snowfall 15-30 cm, strong SW-W wind, freezing levels reaching around 1400 m.

Tuesday: Mainly sunny, moderate NW wind, treeline high around -12 °C. 

On Friday, the Avalanche Canada field team reported several natural size 1 and two size 2 storm slab avalanches in the alpine on northeast aspects in the Renshaw area, mostly releasing under cornices. These were failing in the storm snow down roughly 15-30 cm. Their MIN report has some good photos showing the type of terrain where these avalanches were occurring. A few other natural wind slab avalanches up to size 2 were reported on north and east aspects further north in the region. Explosives were triggering storm slabs up to size 2 failing down 20-30 cm. On Thursday, a loose wet avalanche was reported on a SE aspect at 1800 m east of Prince George which was likely solar triggered. 

The storm snow from the past week has settled to around 20-30 cm and remains reactive in wind loaded terrain at higher elevations. A new layer of surface hoar has been reported recently and now may be buried by a few centimeters of new snow. Below around 1500 m, a thin breakable crust may be present in the upper snowpack from the recent warm weather. A layer of faceted snow can likely be found down around 30-60 cm from the cold period at the end of December but it has not been reactive recently and does not seem to be creating an avalanche problem in most of the region. 

The early-December crust/facet interface can typically be found down 50-150 cm but has been dormant recently and is no longer expected to be creating an avalanche problem in the region. The base of the snowpack is composed of crusts and weak faceted grains, particularly in thin snowpack areas east of the divide. 

• Be alert to conditions that change with elevation and wind exposure.
• Be careful as you transition into wind affected terrain.