Avalanche Forecast

Low - Due to the number of field observations

A storm impacts the coast Sunday which should start to erode the ridge of high pressure that has been plaguing the province for the last week. A bit of snow may venture into the region Sunday with potential for another wee storm Tuesday night into Wednesday. SATURDAY NIGHT: Freezing level at valley bottom, moderate southwest wind in the alpine, no significant precipitation expected.SUNDAY: Clear skies in the morning with steadily increasing cloud through the day, freezing level at valley bottom, strong southwest wind in the alpine, trace of precipitation possible during the day, potential for 1 to 5 cm of snow Sunday night.MONDAY: Broken cloud cover, freezing level at valley bottom, light to moderate southwest wind, trace of precipitation possible.TUESDAY: Overcast, freezing level starting near valley bottom rising to 1500 m during the day, strong to extreme southwest wind, 1 to 5 cm of snow possible during the day, potential for 4 to 10 cm of snow Tuesday night.

No new avalanches have been reported.

The VARDA gang produced a great video from the Allan Creek zone near Valemount, check it out here. The snowpack is currently quite stable in most places, however a buried weak layer still exists down 20-60 cm. This layer consists of a sun crust on steep south facing slopes, and/or surface hoar (feathery crystals). The surface hoar is most prominent at treeline. The most likely place to trigger this layer is where the surface hoar is sitting on the crust. This combination is most likely found on steep south facing terrain at treeline.At the base of the snowpack is a crust that formed in late October. The probability of triggering this layer is low, but the most likely areas would be large, steep, rocky alpine features with a shallow snowpack. It would likely take a large trigger such as a cornice fall to produce an avalanche on this layer.Snowpack depths decrease dramatically with elevation.