Avalanche Forecast

Moderate - Wind effect is extremely variable

MONDAY NIGHT: Cloudy with clear periods. Light to moderate west-southwest wind. Alpine low -13C, freezing level valley bottom.TUESDAY: Mainly cloudy with isolated flurries, trace to 5 cm accumulation. Moderate southwest wind. Alpine high -7C, freezing level valley bottom.WEDNESDAY: Flurries, 10-15 cm accumulation. Moderate west-southwest wind. Alpine high -4C, freezing level climbing to 1100 m.THURSDAY: Mostly cloudy with isolated flurries, trace accumulation. Light to moderate west wind. Alpine high -6, freezing level valley bottom.

New snow was reactive on Sunday with several reports of skier-triggered, cornice-triggered and natural avalanches. A weak layer of surface hoar under the new snow is the likely suspect especially, around treeline elevations 1500-1850 m. Most of these storm slab avalanches are reported on north-north east aspects between 1700-2000m, however 2 recent avalanches occurred on southeast aspects. On Sunday, a size 2 avalanche released naturally around 2000 m with solar input with surprising propagation. And on Monday, skiers triggered a size 2 avalanche on a south aspect in open trees outside the Fernie boundary, fortunately with no injury. Two large snowmobile triggered avalanches were reported last weekend. One was triggered on a thin, rocky, southwest facing feature near ridge crest north of Fernie (see here for report). The other was triggered on a wind affected south facing slope at treeline in the Corbin area (see here for report). Deep persistent slab activity this season has been most common in parts of the region with shallow snowpacks (such as near the continental divide) and on alpine features with thin variable snowpack depths.

10-30 cm recent snow buried a weak layer of surface hoar and sun crusts. Wind has redistributed snow in the alpine and treeline and built cornices. The surface hoar is associated with a crust on solar aspects and is most prominent around treeline elevations (1500-1850 m) and sheltered alpine areas. Below 1500 m, the surface hoar/crust combo is found on all aspects.In shallow snowpack areas, the base of the snowpack may still be composed of weak faceted grains. In deeper snowpack areas, the middle and lower portions of the snowpack are generally considered to be well-settled and strong.