Avalanche Forecast

Fair

Clear and cold overnight with alpine temperatures dropping to about -25 and moderate Northeast winds. Winds becoming moderate Northwest during the day on Tuesday and alpine temperatures rising up to about -14 under clear skies. Cold and clear with light Westerly winds on Wednesday. Increasing cloud on Thursday with a chance of light snow in the afternoon.

Skiers triggered avalanches up to size 2.0 and remotely triggered avalanches up to size 1.5 that released 30-60 cm down on the mid-December crust/surface hoar weak layer.  Explosives control released avalanches up to size 1.5 on the same persistent weak layer. The persistent slab problem is expected to continue for the forecast period.

There is 10-20 cm of light dry snow that has been transported by Northerly winds into pockets of windsalb in the alpine and at treeline. Below the new snow is the recent storm slab that is 40-90 cm thick and is sitting on a persistent weak layer of crust and surface hoar. The crust extends up to about 2100 metres and seems to be the most reactive at treeline or in the upper below treeline elevations where the surface hoar was well preserved. Fractures have been propagating long distances on this layer and have allowed for remote triggering from adjacent terrain. Deeper in the snowpack there is a hard rain crust from November that may have a weak layer of facets at the interface. This November crust has not been reactive, but continues to be a concern for triggering in shallow snowpack areas.