Avalanche Forecast

Over the weekend a few small (size 1) avalanches were reported south of Nelson. There were also reports of whumpfing and cracking suggesting the recent snow is poorly bonded to the mid-November weak layer.

At this point, avalanches on this layer are most likely to be small and on isolated terrain features, but it will likely become a more serious problem when new snow arrives on Wednesday.

Early season conditions exist with low snow amounts and crusts found at lower elevations and a deeper and drier snowpack approaching 1 m at treeline and alpine elevations.

Around 30 cm of snow overlies a weak layer that formed mid-November that consists of sugary faceted grains, weak surface hoar crystals in sheltered terrain features, and a hard crust on steep sun-exposed slopes.

The remainder of the snowpack is faceted as shown in this MIN, but is likely still intermixed with rocks, brush, and trees.

Monday Night

Cloudy with light flurries and trace amounts of snow in the south (South Okanagan and West Kootenays) and mostly clear skies in the north (Shuswap), light wind from the northeast, treeline temperatures cool to -15 °C.

Tuesday

Increasing cloud with isolated afternoon flurries, trace amounts of snow, light wind from the south, treeline temperatures steady around -15 °C.

Cloudy with snowfall, accumulations of 15 to 30 cm, 40 km/h wind from the south, treeline temperatures warm to -10 °C.

Partly cloudy, isolated flurries with up to 5 cm of snow, light wind from the north, treeline temperatures around -12 °C.

More details can be found in the Mountain Weather Forecast.

• Exercise caution on steep, unsupported slopes.
• Back off if you encounter whumpfing, hollow sounds, or shooting cracks.