Avalanche Forecast

Moderate - Forecast snowfall amounts are uncertain on Tuesday

While Monday is expected to be a rather benign weather day, significant snowfall is expected to begin early Tuesday, continuing into the foreseeable future as a series of storms roll in from the gulf of Alaska.MONDAY: Overcast skies, freezing level at valley bottom, light to moderate NW wind, no significant precipitation expected. TUESDAY: Overcast skies, freezing level near valley bottom, moderate to strong SW wind, 2 to 15 cm of snow. WEDNESDAY: Overcast skies, freezing level around 500m, moderate to strong SW wind, 2 to 8 cm of snow. Visit avalanche.ca/weather for a more detailed mountain weather forecast.

On Saturday control work produced small size 1 avalanches running up to 10 cm in depth on the February 21st surface hoar interface. Some loose snow sluffing from steep terrain has been reported. Changing wind directions may develop new wind slabs in the alpine. There was a report of a size 2.5 natural avalanche in the northern part of the region. This may have happened in the last 4 days and possibly failed on a persistent weak layer buried early february on a NW aspect in the alpine.

A recent addition of up to 10 cm of new snow has not dramatically changed the snowpack structure, but Saturday night's storm buried a new layer of surface hoar. At this time it is unknown how well preserved this surface hoar is. Recent clear cold weather and shifting winds have created a variety of surface conditions including isolated wind slabs, pockets of soft snow (15 to 25 cm deep), sun crusts, and surface hoar. A supportive rain crust exists below 1000 m. A layer of surface hoar that was buried on February 10th can be found buried 30 to 60 cm deep at tree line elevations and has been reactive in some recent snowpack tests. Below this layer, the snowpack is generally settled and strong. The exception is shallow snowpack areas around Bear Pass and Ningunsaw where basal facets remain an ongoing concern.