Avalanche Forecast

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, light variable wind, freezing levels dropping to near 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 1000 m.

Sunday night: Snowfall 10-15 cm, strong SW wind, freezing levels around 1000 m.

Monday: Snowfall 10-15 cm, strong SW wind, freezing levels reaching around 1400 m.

Tuesday: Mainly sunny, light variable wind, treeline high around -8 °C. 

No new avalanches were reported to have occurred on Friday. On Thursday, observations were limited in the region due to the conditions but a natural avalanche cycle up to size 3 was reported southwest of Valemount and a couple small wet loose avalanches were observed below 1700 m. 

On Wednesday, numerous natural wind slabs up to size 2 were reported south of Valemount on a variety of aspects above 1800 m which were typically 30 cm thick. Further west, a skier remotely triggered a size 2 wind slab on a north aspect at treeline which was 40 cm thick. 

The recent storm snow which had accumulated over the past week has settled to around 20-30 cm and now only seems reactive in wind loaded terrain. A thin new breakable crust may be found in the upper snowpack but only appears to exist to around 1700 m in the south of the region and 1500 m in the north. A new layer of surface hoar has also been reported and may now be buried below a few centimeters of new snow. 

A layer of facets from early January may be found down 40-80 cm but has not been reactive recently. 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. 

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