Avalanche Forecast

Moderate - Due to the number of field observations

FRIDAY: Sunny and warm above valley cloud. Light wind. Freezing level near 3000 m with a colder air layer in the valleys.SATURDAY: Sunny and warm above valley cloud. Light wind. Freezing level near 3000 m with a colder air layer in the valleys.SUNDAY: Cloudy. Light to moderate south-west winds. Freezing level near 2900 m. More details can be found on the Mountain Weather Forecast.

On the whole, there has been little recent avalanche activity reported, but a natural avalanche cycle is expected to be underway on steep sunny slopes. A size 3 slab failed at ground near Revelstoke on a sunny aspect at treeline recently. Check out the report here. On Tuesday, a size 3 natural avalanche was reported on a steep north-facing alpine face in the Selkirks. The failure layer is unknown, but it was likely an early season crust.

Intense warming will melt and weaken upper snowpack layers, particularly on steep sunny slopes. Isolated wind slabs may be found behind ridges and ribs. Warming also has the potential to wake up more deeply buried crust layers which formed during November's rainfall. On the whole, these crusts have been showing reasonable bonding in snowpack and slope tests. There has been the odd isolated exception, and a cautious approach is a good idea while temperatures are skyrocketing. Below treeline, the snowpack is shallow--look out for early season hazards like open creeks and tree stumps.