Avalanche Forecast

High

No precipitation forecast until at least Monday night. Clear skies with warm air above about 1500 metres on Saturday and Sunday. Moderate to strong southerly upper winds over the weekend, unsure if this wind will be low enough to affect local terrain and transport loose snow. Monday starting off clear with cloud and southeast wind building during the day. Temperatures around -15 in the valleys of the south and closer to -20 in the north of the region.

One skier accidental size 1.5 avalanche was reported from the north of the region on Thursday. The avalanche was a wind slab on an east aspect at 1200 metres that was 20-60 cm deep and released on a buried surface hoar layer from mid-December.

Light amounts (10-15cm) of snow fell last weekend. Variable winds have likely shifted the new snow into wind slabs in upper elevation lee terrain. Although these wind slabs have likely gained strength, I'd remain cautious on steep, unsupported slopes in the immediate lee of ridge crests. Solar radiation has also come into play, and depending on the time of day, steep solar aspects may be moist or refrozen. We're still dealing with a thin, early-season snowpack for much of the Northwest Inland region. Shedin creek snow pillow is at historical minimum snow depth, and Tsai creek snow pillow is setting a new historical minimum snow depth. Between 80 and 100 cm of snow can be found at tree-line in the south and west of the region, with closer to 60 cm in the east. A weak basal layer probably exists in most areas, and I suspect that the ongoing cold temperatures have continued to promote faceting in the snowpack, especially in shallow, rocky areas.