Avalanche Forecast

Good - Forecast snowfall amounts are uncertain

5-10cm of snow is expected throughout the day Friday with another 5 cm each day on Saturday and Sunday. Daytime high freezing levels are expected to hover around 1300 m for Friday and Saturday and a bit higher on Sunday. Alpine winds are expected to belight throughout the weekend.

There have been several explosive-controlled wind slab avalanches up to Size 2.5 running on facets buried March 25th. On Thursday, a remotely triggered Size 2.5 avalanche released above two skiers catching both of them and burying one, who was successfully recovered. This avalanche failed on the same March 25th weakness, where it was buried surface hoar on a northeast aspect at 1450 m.

50-70 cm of recent settled storm snow is bonding poorly to a variety of old snow surfaces including surface hoar and facets buried on March 25th. This weakness is very touchy with a high propensity for propagating fractures, especially where buried surface hoar exists. The problem seems more touchy in the northern part of the region, but has been reported throughout the northwest coastal area. Weaknesses have also been found within the recent storm snow with snowpack tests producing moderate sudden results down approximately 30 and 40 cm. The early March facet/crust persistent weakness is now down around a metre and appears unreactive with snowpack tests.