Avalanche Forecast

High -

Saturday night: Flurries bringing up to 5 cm of new snow. Winds light from the southwest. Sunday: Sunny with cloudy periods. Winds light to moderate from the northeast. Freezing level around 600 metres with alpine temperatures of -9..Monday: Cloudy with sunny periods. Winds light from the west. Freezing level to 300 metres with alpine temperatures of -10. Tuesday: Cloudy with flurries bringing 5-10 cm of new snow, beginning in the afternoon. Winds light to moderate from the west. Freezing level to 400 metres with alpine temperatures of -7.

Reports of both natural and skier triggered wind slab avalanche activity in the region have tapered off, with small natural and skier triggered loose snow releases from steep terrain dominating Thursday and Fridays reports. One MIN report from Thursday shows a great photo sequence of a skier triggered Size 1 slab release on a southeast aspect in the Tantalus Range. A few small 10 cm slabs (under Size 1) reacted to ski cutting on Friday.

Flurries over the past couple of days have deposited 1-5 cm of new snow on the surface. Below any thin new snow accumulations, recent cool temperatures formed up to 5 mm surface hoar on the previous snow surface. The same low temperatures have been responsible for faceting at the snow surface and in the upper snowpack. Sun crusts exist beneath the skiff of new snow on steep solar aspects below about 1700 metres, with a more widespread temperature crust found below about 1500 metres. Below the new snow interface, roughly 20-40 cm of recent (faceting) storm snow appears to be bonding well the widespread mid-February melt-freeze crust. This crust extends as high as 2200 m and is up to 15 cm thick at treeline. Below this crust the mid and lower snowpack are well settled and bonded.