Avalanche Forecast

High - The weather pattern is stable

SUNDAY: Flurries with 4-8 cm of new snow and possibly greater accumulations in the south part of the region, light variable winds, alpine temperatures around -15 C.MONDAY: Continued light flurries with another 3-5 cm of new snow, light southwest winds, alpine temperatures around -15 C.TUESDAY: Mix of sun and cloud, light west winds with moderate gusts, alpine temperatures around -15 C.

On Friday, several skier triggered size 1-1.5 slabs were reported on steep convex alpine features (30 cm deep). Several large natural persistent slab avalanches have been reported on the western slopes of the Purcells, including a cornice triggered size 3.5 avalanche on the November crust and two size 2.5 avalanches the February 3rd surface hoar. Several large skier triggered avalanches were reported last week, including a remotely triggered size 2 wind slab near Kimberly, a skier-triggered size 2.5 persistent slab near Golden, and a remotely-triggered size 3 persistent slab near Golden. See here for a MIN report from one of the large avalanches near Golden.

Light flurries over the past few days delivered 10-25 cm of low density snow. Expect to find isolated pockets with thicker wind deposits at higher elevations and sun crusts forming on south-facing slopes. The recent snow has buried the mid-February interface, which is composed of a thick rain crust up to about 2000 m, sun crusts on steep solar aspects, and spotty surface hoar on shaded aspects. Several deeper weak layers remain a concern including the February 3rd interface (50-80 cm deep) in the southern Purcells and the mid-January interface in the northern Purcells (about 100 cm deep). Basal facets may still be a reactive in shallow rocky start zones.