Avalanche Forecast

Fair - Due to variable snowpack conditions

Overnight and Tuesday: Light to locally moderate snowfall / Extreme southwest winds / Freezing level at 1500mWedesday: Light snowfall / Strong to extreme southwest winds / Freezing level at surfaceThursday: Trace amounts of snow / Light southwest winds / Freezing level at surface

No new avalanches to report. This may speak more to a lack of observations than actual conditions. Any field observations can be sent to forecaster@avalanche.ca.

Over the last few days snowfall amounts have been highly variable throughout the region and windslabs may exist at higher elevations. Reports indicate that up to 50cm of recent storm snow may now sit above a surface hoar layer that developed last week and was buried on the 28th. Although not necessarily widespread in the region, releases on this layer are likely if you have it in your area. There is a surface hoar layer that developed during mid-november was reported to be active last week, but has not been reactive during the recent storm. There is a rain crust near the ground that we're calling the early November crust. There are some facets below it, or it may appear as a sandwich of crusts and facets, but it's been reported  as unreactive at this time. There is still a sharp transition in snow depth from treeline to below treeline making back-country travel challenging under 1300 m in elevation. In general, significant variations in snowpack structure exist across the region. Digging down and making your own observations will be critical to safe slope selection. Any observations from the field are welcome at forecaster@avalanche.ca.