Avalanche Forecast

Moderate - Intensity of incoming weather systems is uncertain on Friday

Friday: Cloudy with possible sunny periods. Alpine temperatures near -2 and freezing levels 700 m. Ridgetop winds strong from southwest. Saturday: Snow amounts 20-40 cm with the heavier accumulations in the northern part of the region. Alpine temperatures -2 and freezing levels 800 m. Moderate to strong ridgetop winds from the southwest. Sunday: Snow amount 5-10 cm. Alpine temperatures near -3 and freezing levels 600 m. Check out the Mountain Weather Forecast for more detail.

On Thursday, numerous loose wet avalanches size 1-2 were reported from below treeline elevations. Avalanche activity will likely increase through the forecast period with new rain, snow and wind.I'd also remain suspect of the deep persistent layers. On December 7th and 8th a few deep persistent slabs to size 3 out of steep south facing alpine terrain in the Skeena corridor west of Terrace were reported. Basal facets were thought to be the culprit in these events. The deep persistent slab is something to keep on your radar, especially with additional stress of the new storm snow.

On Thursday the region received another 10-20 mm of rain at most elevations and some new snow at high alpine elevations. With freezing levels dropping the remainder of the precipitation may fall as snow during the forecast period and likely have a poor bond to the old snow surfaces. The alpine and treeline has seen significant wind effect on all aspects including wind slab and wind pressed snow. Below the surface sits a well-settled snowpack overlying several layers of interest. Down 70-100 cm you'll likely find a 5-10 cm thick crust which was buried on November 23 and in some areas, a feathery surface hoar layer down 50-60 cm producing moderate snowpack test results. The widespread crust/facet interface that was buried at the end of October can now be found 100-200 cm deep and exists region wide.