Avalanche Forecast

Moderate

• The snowpack structure is well understood.

January 22 to 25

• No new avalanches reported.

January 21

• There was a report of a cornice fall that had likely failed during the previous afternoon in the heat of the day.

January 16-20

• No new avalanches reported.

Field observations are limited. Consider submitting a report to the MIN if you are out in the mountains.

The snow surface is highly wind-affected in exposed alpine terrain. Below approximately 1600 m, the surface crust is up to 20 cm thick and poses additional slip-and-fall hazards. Large surface hoar is noted on this crust at treeline and below treeline.

A layer of facets is buried around 50 to 100 cm deep and is slowly gaining strength.

The mid and lower snowpack have no layers of concern. Snowpack depths are generally around 150-200 cm deep at treeline.

Sunday night
Partly cloudy. 40 km/h west ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -5 °C.

Monday
Mostly cloudy. 40 km/h southwest ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -4 °C.

Tuesday
Mostly cloudy. 1 to 2 cm of snow. 50 km/h south ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -5 °C.

Wednesday
Mix of sun and clouds. 5 to 10 cm of snow. 60 km/h south ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -5 °C.

More details can be found in the Mountain Weather Forecast.

• A hard crust on the snow surface will help strengthen the snowpack, but may cause tough travel conditions.
• Avalanche activity is unlikely when a thick melt-freeze crust is present on the snow surface.