Avalanche Forecast

Fair - Due to limited field observations for the entire period

A warm front is expected to drift into the interior during Saturday evening bringing high cloud and freezing levels up to about 2000 metres. Some light precipitation is expected by Sunday morning, and the freezing level may only dip a couple of hundred metres to about 1700. Precipitation is expected to increase during the day on Sunday with about 5-10 mm forecast, and freezing levels rising to about 2300 metres.

Natural moist and wet loose snow avalanches were reported from Friday up to size 2.0, some wet slab avalanches were also reported.

On Thursday, moderate to locally heavy accumulations formed wind slabs at treeline and above on a variety of temperature-affected surfaces that include well settled powder, wet grains and crust sandwiches. Rain has continued to penetrate and weaken the isothermal snowpack at lower elevations. The mid-February buried surface hoar layer is down about 140-220 cm, although avalanches releasing on this layer represent an extremely low probability-high consequence scenario. Cornices in the region are very large. With spring temperatures, and direct solar radiation these are more likely to become weak and fail. They could provide a large enough trigger to release deep layers on slopes below. Average snowpack depth in the alpine remains in the 3 m range. For more information on Spring Conditions and ways to mitigate risk, please visit the new Forecasters Blog Post.