New snow may bond poorly to old surfaces. Dial back terrain if you see signs of instability
In northern areas, buried weak layers may become reactive as the load increases
Observations from the Shuswap area suggest a buried crust/facet layer in the upper snowpack may be reaching a tipping point. We are uncertain how prevalent this problem is throughout the region.
Snow continues to accumulate over a layer of large surface hoar, making for a poor bond. An underlying crust makes for a slippery bed surface for avalanches to run on.
On Sunday, avalanches up to size 1 were reported from human and explosive triggers. While most failed within the recent storm snow or on the recently buried crust, one stepped down to the late January surface hoar and crust.
This slab avalanche was reported from Crowfoot riding area west of Sicamous on Saturday. Based on the depth of the crown, we suspect it also ran one of the buried crust layers in the upper snowpack.
Overnight snowfall should bring recent totals to 10-30 cm, overlying a layer of large surface hoar on a crust.
Shuswap observations point to two crust/facet layers buried within the top 40 cm of the snowpack. While widespread, these layers haven’t caused concern elsewhere, yet.
The remainder of the snowpack is dense and well bonded, containing many more crusts.
Monday Night
Mostly cloudy. 1 to 5 cm of snow favouring the south. 10 km/h south ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -6 °C.
Tuesday
Mostly cloudy. 10 km/h southwest ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -7 °C.
Wednesday
Mix of sun and clouds. 1 to 3 cm of snow. 10 km/h southwest ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -10 °C.
Thursday
Mix of sun and clouds. 3 cm of snow. 10 km/h west ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -12 °C.
More details can be found in the Mountain Weather Forecast.
