Avalanche Forecast

Moderate - Intensity of incoming weather systems is uncertain on Tuesday

MONDAY: Mainly sunny, with increasing clouds late in the day. Light winds. Treeline temperature near -10.TUESDAY: 5-10 cm snow. Light to moderate westerly winds. Treeline temperature near -5.WEDNESDAY: Flurries. Light winds. Treeline temperature near -8.More details can be found in the Mountain Weather Forecast.

A widespread avalanche cycle occurred this week on all aspects and elevations. Persistent slabs up to size 3 were observed during the peak of the storm loading on Thursday. On Friday and Saturday, natural activity slowed down, but large explosive and machine-triggered avalanches continued to be reported.The natural cycle has wound down, but human-triggering remains a real concern. You might be surprised by how large an avalanche can be triggered and how far it could run.

Storm snow accumulations from the past week vary from 10-45cm across the region at upper elevations. In the alpine this new snow has been redistributed to leeward slopes from strong northwest winds. Fragile cornices may be found at ridge top. Below 1850 m, around 5 cm of low density snow covers a hard crust. This now brings 1- 2 m of settled snow sitting on three significant surface hoar/ crust layers that were formed early to mid-January, and back in December. Near the base of the snowpack a crust/ facet interface exists that will likely haunt us all season. These persistent weak layers that lurk within the snowpack are reactive, producing large and destructive avalanches. The snowpack is extremely complex and requires respect and diligence at this time.