Avalanche Forecast

Moderate - Wind effect is extremely variable

We're in a fairly stable weather pattern with seasonal temperatures and a slight chance of flurries on Saturday. Things change significantly Monday -Tuesday, stay tuned. FRIDAY: Sunny with cloudy periods and no new snow. Winds light - moderate from the west. Alpine high temperatures to -6 Celcius. SATURDAY: Mainly cloudy with isolated flurries and a trace of new snow. Winds moderate (20-35 Km/hr) from the southwest. Freezing level rising to 800 metres with alpine temperatures to -5 Celcius. SUNDAY: Increasing clouds in the afternoon with snow overnight. Winds light southwesterly. Freezing level rising to 1200m and alpine temperatures around -4 Celcius.

A video of a snowboarder caught Wednesday in a Size 2 avalanche near Brandywine (Chocolate Bowl) has gone viral. See the MIN post below for more details:http://www.avalanche.ca/map/forecasts/sea-to-sky?panel=mountain-information-network-submissions%2F8c832980-b83c-4b4f-a23d-540ed9bfe606A Size 2.5 natural was seen on the south aspect of Mt Currie near 2100m elevation.

Wildly variable wind effect is the main story here. In the days since the last storm (Sunday-Monday), winds shifted to classic outflow (northerly) patterns with strong winds at ridge top for 24 hours. By and large this 'reverse loaded' snow in the alpine and also affected treeline elevations too. Touchy windslabs (5-40 cm thick) formed on southerly slopes near ridge crests and roll overs. These slabs are the primary weakness of concern in the snowpack and our colder-than-usual temperatures of late mean the upper snowpack will be slower than usual to heal. Deeper in the snowpack, the new snow from Sunday night and also last Friday is bonding fairly well to a variable surface consisting of a mix of soft wind slabs, hard wind slabs, sastrugi, faceted snow, and even some surface hoar. Snowpack layers below this interface are generally well bonded, and the lower snowpack is solid.