Avalanche Forecast

Poor - Due to the number of field observations

Overview: A series of strong frontal systems are forecast to cross the province early this week bringing mild and wet conditions to most areas. The northern sections of the Columbia Mountains should see heavier precip on Monday then it slowly dries out and cools as the next systems target the south. Monday:15-25 cm; freezing level near 1400 m; Ridge winds are moderate to strong from the SW.Tuesday: Around 5 cm; freezing level near 600 m; Ridge winds are moderate from the W.Wednesday: Possible light precipitation; the freezing level should be at valley bottom; winds are light from the W-NW.

One observer in the Raft Mountain are observed several small natural avalanches and easily triggered a few more on steep road banks. There are no new observations from higher terrain but given the amount of new snow in the past couple days it's likely that there was some sort of natural avalanche cycle. Expect the size and likelihood of avalanches to increase early this week if we see a decent amount of new snow and/or wind.

This is an estimate of what the snowpack may look like based of a few observations and previous weather. If you plan on riding in avalanche terrain be sure to supplement this with your own observations and please pass along any data you collect (forecaster@avalanche.ca)Around 35-45 cm of new snow sits on weak layer of surface hoar and/or a sun crust. Below this 20-30cm of sugary facetted snow sits on a solid rain crust that formed a few weeks ago is now down 50-80 cm. The average snowpack depth in the alpine is around 100-120 cm. Recent strong and variable winds have probably created dense wind slabs in exposed terrain and resulted in variable snow distribution. At lower elevations expect travel to be difficult and potentially hazardous as many early season hazards are exposed or lightly buried (stumps, logs, rocks, open creeks, etc).