Avalanche Forecast

Fair

A weak push of Pacific moisture will come on-shore Friday evening bringing very light snowfall for Saturday and Sunday. Freezing levels for the weekend are expected to hover around 1000m. On Monday, a dry ridge of high pressure is forecast to rebuild with mainly clear skies and rising freezing levels. Winds are expected to remain mainly light for the entire forecast period.

In general, avalanche activity has tapered-off dramatically. However, an anomalous size 2 slab avalanche was skier triggered on Thursday on a steep, north-facing alpine slope. The exact failure plane is not known, although the depth of the crown (50-200cm) suggest it may have been a persistent weakness.Skier triggering of deeper weaknesses will remain unlikely, especially with forecast cooling; although small wind slabs are possible with light snowfall forecast for the weekend.

A thick supportive surface crust is capping the snowpack. Below the crust is the recent storm snow which is around 50-70cm deep and sits on a previously variable snow surface that included wind affected surfaces, a freezing rain crust or sun crust, and/or surface hoar or sugary facets in sheltered terrain. In the middle of the snowpack you might find the mid-December surface hoar or crust/facet weak layers. These are now typically buried at least 100cm below the surface. The old surface hoar layer may be found in sheltered shady areas at and below treeline, while the slightly deeper crust/facet layer is expected to be more widespread but also more variable.