Avalanche Forecast

Moderate

Warm weather on Tuesday and Wednesday triggered numerous wet loose avalanches, mostly size 2. Earlier in the week, a few size 2 wind slab avalanches and cornice failures were also observed.

Although no recent persistent slab avalanches have been reported, this remains the main problem to monitor. The avalanches shown below from Barkerville last week illustrate this problem well.

Light snowfall with northeast winds will create a dusting of soft snow above the wet and settled storm snow from the past week. We expect a frozen crust layer to form in most terrain, except possibly on shaded alpine slopes.

A persistent weak layer from early March, 40 to 80 cm deep, is most likely found as surface hoar on sheltered north and east aspects at treeline and above. Its distribution is variable, and there have been no substantial reports of recent avalanches, but it should still be considered when evaluating slopes.

Thursday Night

Cloudy with 0 to 5 cm of snow, except 5 to 15 cm around Kakwa. 50 km/h east ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -10 °C.

Friday

Cloudy with 0 to 1 cm of snow. 40 km/h northeast ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -8 °C.

Saturday

Mostly sunny. 20 km/h northeast ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -6 °C.

Sunday

Sunny. 20 km/h northwest ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -1 °C. Freezing level 1500 m.

More details can be found in the Mountain Weather Forecast.

• Carefully evaluate big and steep terrain features before committing to them.
• Watch for signs of instability like whumpfing, hollow sounds, shooting cracks, or recent avalanches.
• Surface hoar distribution is highly variable. Avoid generalizing your observations.