Avalanche Forecast
Regions: South Columbia.
Confidence
Fair
Weather Forecast
WEDNESDAY: Freezing level starting at 900m, rising to 2000m. Light N/NE winds at all elevations. No significant precipitation expected. Mostly clear skies.THURSDAY: Freezing level starting at 1200m, rising to 2200m. Light W/SW winds at all elevations. No significant precipitation expected. Clear skies.FRIDAY: Freezing level holding at 1900m. Moderate S/SW winds at treeline, strong S/SW winds at ridgetop. No significant precipitation expected. Cloud cover rapidly building to overcast by lunch.
Avalanche Summary
On Monday a bit of small loose wet activity was observed. Sunday's observations were limited to power sluffing in steep high elevation terrain.
Snowpack Summary
Surface faceting is beginning to work on the 15 to 45 cm generated by convective snow fall over the weekend. This snow remains dry on high elevation north facing features, but is moist almost everywhere else. Just below this snow you'll find tired old wind slabs at upper elevations and the supportive late-March crust that is thought to exist up to around 2100m. Moist snow underneath the late-March crust is ubiquitous in most of the region.Two significant persistent weak layers composed of crust and facets exist in the snowpack. Mid-March is down 40 to 80cm below the surface and Mid-February is down 80 to 140cm. Observations indicate that there is significant faceting occurring between the two crusts. While avalanche activity on these weak layers has tapered off snowpack tests indicate that these layers may still be sensitive to triggering.
Avalanche Problems
Cornices
Aspects: All aspects.
Elevations: Alpine.
Likelihood: Possible - Likely
Expected Size: 2 - 5
Loose Wet
Aspects: All aspects.
Elevations: Alpine, Treeline.
Likelihood: Possible - Likely
Expected Size: 1 - 2
Persistent Slabs
Aspects: All aspects.
Elevations: Alpine, Treeline.
Likelihood: Unlikely - Possible
Expected Size: 3 - 7