Regions
Banff Yoho Kootenay.
Great spring like conditions exist right now with powder on polar aspects and crust on solar. The danger is Low/Low/Low in the morning and deteriorating with daytime warming. Get up early and enjoy the great conditions!
Weather Forecast
Wednesday will start with a cold morning (overnight low of -10) but will warm up to reach +5 to +10 again in the afternoon with light south winds. Thursday and Friday look to be overcast with light snow (5 cm) and freezing levels staying below 2000m. Winds will remain generally light.
Snowpack Summary
North aspect snow is soft, cold and well settled with few weak layers of concern. South and west aspects now have a suncrust on the surface that becomes moist by 11am. Currently we are moving from Low danger in the morning to Considerable danger in the afternoon on solar aspects - so get an early start.
Avalanche Summary
Wet loose avalanches up to size 2 were running by noon on Tuesday on sun exposed slopes. These were less active on Tuesday than the day before, but will be most active on steep, thin, rocky solar aspects.
Confidence
Due to the number of field observations
Problems
Loose Wet
Loose Wet avalanches are the release of wet unconsolidated snow or slush. These avalanches typically occur within layers of wet snow near the surface of the snowpack, but they may quickly gouge into lower snowpack layers. Like Loose Dry Avalanches, they start at a point and entrain snow as they move downhill, forming a fan-shaped avalanche. Other names for loose-wet avalanches include point-release avalanches or sluffs. Loose Wet avalanches can trigger slab avalanches that break into deeper snow layers.
Cornices
Cornice Fall is the release of an overhanging mass of snow that forms as the wind moves snow over a sharp terrain feature, such as a ridge, and deposits snow on the downwind (leeward) side. Cornices range in size from small wind drifts of soft snow to large overhangs of hard snow that are 30 feet (10 meters) or taller. They can break off the terrain suddenly and pull back onto the ridge top and catch people by surprise even on the flat ground above the slope. Even small cornices can have enough mass to be destructive and deadly. Cornice Fall can entrain loose surface snow or trigger slab avalanches.