Avalanche Forecast

Moderate - Forecast snowfall amounts are uncertain

On Sunday expect 3-5cm of new snow with another 3-5cm falling on Sunday night. A mix of sun and cloud is forecast for Monday and Tuesday. Winds should be extreme from the southeast on Sunday, easing to mainly light to moderate from the south on Monday and Tuesday. Freezing levels should sit at about 1200m on Sunday, and then drop to about 1000m for Monday and Tuesday.

On Wednesday, a size 3 deep persistent slab avalanche was accidentally triggered by a skier in alpine terrain in the north of the region. To our knowledge, nobody was injured in the incident. The slab, which ran on basal facets, was up to 200cm deep, 200m wide and 500m long. There have been a handful of recent similar avalanches triggered on basal facets in the mountains north of Kispiox. On Friday, a widespread round of storm slab activity to size 2 was reported from the southwest corner of the region where recent storm accumulations were the greatest. Of note, a size 3 natural storm slab avalanche was also reported from the Howson Range area on a steep, north-facing alpine slope.

On Friday and Friday night, 5-20cm of new snow fell with the highest accumulations occurring in the southwest of the region. Strong winds shifted the new snow into new wind slabs at treeline and in the alpine adding to an ongoing wind slab problem. A layer of surface hoar from early January can be found in isolated locations between 60 and 140cm down. There hasn't been any activity reported on this layer for a couple of weeks now and it is becoming less of a concern. In shallower areas the snowpack sits on a weak base layer of facetted snow. Recently, this layer has been active in the north of the region, responsible for several large avalanches in unsupported alpine terrain.