North Columbia

Broken skies with little precipitation along with winds switching direction will keep wind slabs at upper elevations the main concern.

Sunday Night: Cloudy with clear periods. Light to moderate northwest wind. Alpine high temperatures around -10.

Monday: Cloudy with sunny breaks. Light northwest wind. Alpine high temperatures around -6.

Tuesday: Scattered flurries. Light to moderate west wind. Alpine high temperatures around -5.

Wednesday: Mix of sun and cloud. Light to moderate west wind. Alpine high temperatures around -8.

Reports from Saturday show numerous loose dry avalanche size 1-1.5 running in steep terrain in the alpine and at tree line. There were also a few skier and rider along with naturally triggered storm and wind slab avalanches size 1-1.5.

Thursday and Friday's reports showed loose dry size 1-1.5 avalanches running naturally from steep slopes facing the sun and a few small (size 1) wind slabs triggered with ski cutting and skier traffic on steeper rolls and ridgetop features.

30-60 cm of snow from the last week now overlies older wind-affected snow at high elevations, with about half this amount instead overlying a widespread melt-freeze or rain crust to a variable upper extent of 1700-2400 metres in elevation. 

The mid and lower snowpack are generally well settled and strong. Although isolated, there are two deeper weak layers that may persist in some areas. A weak layer of surface hoar buried 90 to 170 cm deep may be found across the north of the region while a facet/crust layer from November may be found near the ground in shallower snowpack areas.

• Avoid freshly wind loaded features, especially near ridge crests, roll-overs and in steep terrain.
• Seek out sheltered terrain where new snow hasn't been wind-affected.
• Use extra caution around cornices: they are large, fragile, and can trigger slabs on slopes below.