Avalanche Forecast

Moderate

We didn't receive any reports of avalanche activity for Wednesday.

We've received notes on backcountry users experiencing whumpfs in the Babines, Grizzly Plateau, and around Hudson Bay Mountain. We suspect the whumpfing is from the failure of surface hoar layers that are described in the Snowpack Summary. Such observations suggest that humans could trigger avalanches where these layers remain intact.

Up to 25 cm of soft snow exists in areas sheltered from the wind. The snow surface in wind-exposed terrain includes wind-stiffened snow or scoured surfaces including a hard melt-freeze crust or the ground. A small amount of new snow over a hard crust is found below treeline.

Two or more preserved surface hoar layers can be found buried between 35 cm and 80 cm deep in most parts of the region. These layers are most prominent at treeline and below treeline elevations above 1200 m, but they've also been observed in some alpine locations.

Snowpack depths at treeline vary across the region with generally deeper amounts (~150 cm) in the west and shallower (~80 cm) in the east.

Thursday Night

Cloudy with 1 to 3 cm snow, south alpine wind 20 to 40 km/h, treeline temperature -7 °C.

Friday

Cloudy with 2 to 5 cm snow, south alpine wind 20 to 40 km/h, treeline temperature -6 °C.

Saturday

Mostly cloudy with trace snow, northwest alpine wind 10 to 20 km/h, treeline temperature -8 °C.

Sunday

Mix of sun and cloud with no precipitation, northwest alpine wind 10 km/h, treeline temperature -10 ºC.

More details can be found in the Mountain Weather Forecast.

• Approach steep open slopes at and below treeline cautiously, buried surface hoar may exist.
• Watch for wind-loaded pockets especially around ridgecrest and in extreme terrain.
• Carefully evaluate steep lines for wind slabs.