Avalanche Forecast

Fair

Wednesday: Periods of snow – 10-15 cm. The freezing level is near 1000 m and ridge winds are moderate from the W-SW. Thursday: Cloudy with flurries and sunny breaks. The freezing level is around 800 m and ridge winds are light from the NW. Friday: A mix of sun and cloud. The freezing level is around 600-800 m and ridge winds are light from the NW.

There were a couple new reports of natural slab avalanches stepping down to buried persistent weaknesses on Monday. Some of these were on southerly aspects and likely involved buried sun crusts with avalanches up to Size 3. There was one that was accidentally skier triggered from a Northeast aspect at treeline and likely released on the mid February weak layer. A group of snowmobilers triggered a large avalanche not far from Blue River on Friday resulting in one fatality. Some information is available here.The group involved in a very close call with a size 3.5 avalanche in the Ozalenka Valley south of McBride submitted a great incident report. Check it out here. It's an excellent example of the kind of activity we've been seeing throughout the interior in the last week.

Around 30-40 cm of recent storm snow has fallen in the past few days. Periods of strong westerly winds have probably formed fresh wind slabs in exposed lee and cross-loaded terrain. This new snow now sits on a surface hoar and/or sun crust layer. Weakness have been observed within the new snow and at the interface between the new snow and this layer. A couple other notable persistent weaknesses remain a concern in the mid-snowpack. Another surface hoar/sun crust combo buried in early March is now down around 60-80 cm. The February 10th surface hoar/facet/crust combo is 100cm - 150cm below the snow surface and widespread throughout the region. Surface avalanches in motion and cornice fall have the potential to initiate an avalanche on this deeply buried weak layer. Cornices are large and fragile.