Rapid warming in the alpine and a persistent weak layer 30-50 cm below the surface are both good reasons to be cautious.
Summary
Confidence
High -
Weather Forecast
Tuesday: Cold air in the valleys, warmer air up high. An above freezing layer is expected from approximately 2300-2700 m. Some valley cloud is possible, clear at upper elevations. Light southwesterly winds.Wednesday: basically a repeat of Tuesday, possibly slightly warmer.Thursday: Cloud developing later in the day. Lower elevations getting warmer, although the above freezing layer is expected to remain in place. Light southwesterly winds.
Avalanche Summary
On Sunday, a size 1.5 avalanche involving two people near Invermere was reported. It was suspected to have run on the mid-December weak layer. On Saturday a skier triggered size 2 persistent slab avalanche running on a layer of facetted snow from mid-December was reported. This happened in the north of the region's Dogtooth Range on a west aspect at 2400m. Expect the potential to trigger persistent slabs to increase as last week's storm snow continues to settle into a cohesive slab.
Snowpack Summary
20-40 cm low density new snow has accumulated and buried a recently formed layer of weak feathery surface hoar and/or sugary facets. Another layer buried mid-December that consists of surface hoar, sun crust and/or sugary facets is down approximately 40-70cm and has been reported at elevations up to 2400 m. A rain crust that formed in late November is now buried 70-110cm deep. Recent reports show this layer to be unreactive at this time.
jfloyer,
Avalanche Canada
