Avalanche Forecast

Fair - Freezing levels are uncertain

The pineapple express will persist for Sunday and Monday, but it will lose much of its "punch". A warm, dry ridge will build for Tuesday.  Sunday: Light precipitation / Moderate southwest winds / Freezing level at 1800m  Monday: 10-15cm of snow at higher elevations / Moderate to strong southwest winds / Freezing levels at 1800m  Monday: A mix of sun and cloud / Light northwest winds / Freezing level at 1800m

Over the last few days there was a widespread natural avalanche cycle to size 3. Most of the avalanches were storm slabs which formed in response to new snow and wind. At lower elevations, a couple of wet slabs to size 3 were observed. With forecast weather storm slab avalanches will remain a concern with the potential to step down to deeper persistent layers. Loose wet and wet slab avalanches will also remain likely.

Heavy precipitation over the past few days has resulted in deep and dense storm slabs above about 1800m. At lower elevations heavy rain has saturated the snowpack. Moderate to strong southwest winds have shifted the new snow accumulations into much deeper deposits in exposed lee terrain. Weaknesses are expected to exist within the new storm snow as well as on a hard melt freeze crust which exists up to 80cm below the surface. This crust, which formed at the end of January, is reported to have weak overlying surface hoar and should be treated with caution.Deeper in the snowpack the mid-January surface hoar remains a concern. It can be found down 60-120 cm across the region, but in most places it is about one metre down. In some locations it has reportedly gained quite a bit of strength, but elsewhere it is still producing "sudden" failures in snowpack tests. The mid-December surface hoar layer is now 80 to 140cm below the surface and has become unlikely to fail. The current storm pattern should be a good test to see if it will become active again.