Avalanche Forecast

Fair - Due to limited field observations

Saturday: Moderate precipitation, starting in the morning as a warm front arrives. Mild temperatures. Freezing level rising through the day to around 1200m. Strong to gale south-westerly winds at ridge top. Sunday: Light to moderate snow continues. Freezing level staying near 1200m. Strong westerly winds.Monday: A break from heavy snow, although a weak disturbance may bring light snow in the afternoon. Freezing level falling back to valley floor.

We've had no new reports from the region. Please send us your observations: forecaster@avalanche.ca

Wind slabs and storm slabs continue to build above a weak facet layer which formed during the brutal cold of mid-January and was buried around January 20th. Avalanches have begun to release on this layer in the Coastal regions and it's probably just a matter of time before a critical load builds up above it further inland. Tests on this layer in the Seaton Basin have produced moderate, sudden planar ("pops") shears, indicating that an avalanche releasing on this layer could propagate widely. In the Howsons, the facet layer was buried with very little wind effect in the alpine, at the same time that the northeast outflow winds were howling in Terrace. Rising temperatures and snowfall during the weekend will increase the likelihood of storm slab avalanches, which could be very large. In shallow snowpack areas, a weak, "rotten" snowpack has been observed.