Avalanche Forecast

High -

Monday night: Clear. Light northeast winds.Tuesday: Sunny. Light northeast winds, increasing over the day. Alpine high temperatures around -10.Wednesday: Mainly cloudy. Light southeast winds. Alpine high temperatures around -7.Thursday: A mix of sun and cloud. Light variable winds. Alpine high temperatures around -7.

Several small (size 1) human triggered slabs were reported in the storm snow on Saturday and Friday. Loose dry sluffing was also observed in steep terrain.Persistent slab avalanches on the buried crust layer are still a serious concern. One occurred naturally on a south-facing feature at treeline elevation on Wendesday (see MIN report here). Last Monday, a fatal avalanche occurred on a steep feature at treeline elevation in the Mount Seymour backcountry (see here for incident report). Avalanche professionals involved in the rescue indicated wide propagation consistent with a persistent slab problem. The crown depth was variable - 40 to 100 cm, indicating there was also wind loading in that area.

Roughly 30 cm of snow from the weekend storm sits above a mix of sun crusts and possibly some weak faceted snow and surface hoar. Below this gradually strengthening interface, a widespread crust layer is now buried 50-100 cm deep with weak snow above it. This deeper weak layer has produced large natural and human-triggered avalanches over the past week. A couple of videos from last Wednesday demonstrate how easy it is to trigger this layer. (see here and here)The reactivity of this layer appears to be worse in the south of the region (i.e. the North Shore Mountains), since this part of the region saw more snow from recent storms and this storm snow consolidated into a stiffer slab. This problem is not typical for the region and we expect this layer to remain reactive for some time into the future. The lower snowpack is settled and strong.