Avalanche Forecast

High -

Sunday night: Cloudy with continuing light flurries bringing up to 5 cm of new snow. Moderate south winds.

Monday: Cloudy with scattered flurries bringing up to 5 cm of new snow. Light to moderate southwest winds. Alpine high temperatures around -5 with freezing levels to 1300 metres.

Tuesday: Cloudy with scattered flurries and about 5 cm of new snow, clearing in the evening. Light south or southwest winds. Alpine high temperatures around -5.

Wednesday: Cloudy with flurries bringing 5-10 cm of new snow, increasing a bit overnight. Strong south winds. Alpine high temperatures around -5.

Saturday's reports included one notable observation of a recent very large (size 3) persistent slab avalanche suspected to have been remote triggered by a ski touring party just southwest of Valemount. Its failure plane is unknown but with a crown fracture depth of 150 cm it is possible that it failed on the late December surface hoar that is considered dormant in the region. 

A couple of large (size 2) storm slabs were triggered with explosives in the same area on Saturday. Several smaller (size 1.5) recent natural storm slabs were also observed, mainly in the south of the region.

Reports from Friday included several new, small (size 1, 20-30 cm deep) ski cut storm slabs as well as observations of numerous recent natural storm slabs. Several more natural large (size 2.5) wet loose avalanches were also observed below 1500 metres.

Looking forward, now that our recent snow has formed a more reliable bond with the old surface, areas of unstable snow should become increasingly limited to recently wind loaded pockets at higher elevations.

Regular snowfall over the past week brought about 30-50 cm of snow to the region. Moderate to strong, mainly south winds over the same period redistributed much of this snow in the alpine and upper treeline. Warm temperatures promoted slab formation with each snowfall as well as fairly quick transitions to settlement and bonding of the new snow. 

Surface snow recently became either moist or wet from warm temperatures, wet flurries, or rain up to at least 1500 metres. New melt-freeze crusts may be found on the surface below this elevation, particularly where more pronounced melt occurred.

The layer of surface hoar that we have been tracking since late December, now buried 70 to 130 cm deep, is now considered dormant by professionals in the region. Below this old interface, the lower snowpack is well settled and strong.

• Watch for newly formed and reactive wind slabs as you transition into wind affected terrain.
• Be alert to conditions that change with elevation, aspect and exposure to wind.