Avalanche Forecast

Moderate - Due to the number of field observations

The storm track will follow the Canada -- USA border over the next few days so the Northwest should be cool and dry.Tuesday:  Mix of sun and cloud, dry, light to moderate northeast winds, and alpine temperatures around -5 C.Wednesday:  A temperature inversion could mean sunshine in the alpine but grey and cold below the valley cloud. Nil precipitation. Alpine temperatures could near freezing; colder at low elevations. Light but gusting northwest wind. Thursday:  Mix of sun & clouds. Dry. Light but gusting north wind. Alpine temperatures around -5 to -10 C.

The north part of the region reported up to size three natural avalanches over the weekend. Poor visibility limited observations in the south but no new avalanches were reported.

The region picked up 20 to 60cm of storm snow over the weekend accompanied by winds out of the southwest, west, northwest, and even a bit of southeast. This has likely led to the development of a cohesive slab, especially in wind exposed features. These new storm and wind slabs rest on a rain saturated snowpack between valley bottom and 800m. Above 800m, the new storm snow rests on settled old snow, or a melt freeze crust that is 3 to 15cm thick. Below this crust the mid-pack is strong, but there are reports of a feathery surface hoar layer on or right around this crust in sheltered locations. There is a second prominent crust that is associated with facets buried at the end of October, look for this widespread interface down around 100 to 200cm below the surface.