Avalanche Forecast

High

Thursday: An additional 2-5cm of snow with freezing levels in valley bottoms and light northwesterly winds. Friday: A mix of sun and cloud, but dry, with freezing levels in valley bottoms and light southwesterly winds. Saturday: Increasing cloud with light snow starting in the afternoon. Freezing levels remaining in valley bottoms and light to moderate southeasterly winds.

No new avalanches were reported as of Wednesday morning. On Friday and Saturday, skiers triggered a few storm slabs size 1-2 in the Nelson area. A thin storm slab overlying the recently buried surface hoar was the suspected culprit in all of these avalanches. Storm slab avalanches are expected to increase in size and reactivity with additional loading from snow and wind.

As of Wednesday morning 15-20cm of new snow is loading 20-40cm of previous storm snow that is bonding poorly to surface hoar sitting on sun crust on south aspects or facets in shaded areas. Wind and warm temperatures have promoted slab development in many areas, however in some sheltered areas there may still be insufficient storm snow settlement and cohesion for storm slab conditions. About 60-80 cm below the surface, you might find a rain crust from mid-December which co-exists with facets in some areas. Recent snowpack tests suggest that it could still be capable of producing human triggered avalanches. The snowpack below this layer is generally strong and well-settled.