Avalanche Forecast

Moderate - Timing of incoming weather systems is uncertain on Sunday

SATURDAY: Cloudy with sunny periods, light southeast winds, alpine temperatures around -10.SUNDAY: Flurries starting in the afternoon, moderate southeast winds, alpine temperatures around -6MONDAY: Flurries with 5-15 cm of new snow, light west winds, alpine temperatures around -8.

No new avalanches were reported on Thursday. Wind slabs were reactive in the Duffey Lake area earlier in the week, including an avalanche involvement reported on the MIN and an explosive triggered wind slab. Be on the lookout for wind loaded pockets where reactive wind slabs may still be lingering.

Recent cold temperatures and strong winds have left our snow surface a mix of soft wind slabs, hard wind slabs, sastrugi, faceted snow, and even some surface hoar. Wind slabs are the primary weakness of concern in our current snowpack. Last week's winds were primarily from the north, which reverse loaded many terrain features and formed stubborn wind slabs on southerly slopes in wind-exposed areas. For low snow areas such as the Chilcotins, two other layers of concern exist. One is a weak layer of snow from mid-December buried approximately 50 cm deep and other is an old rain crust from November buried 90-120 cm deep. Snowpack tests indicate these layers may be possible to trigger in shallow snowpack areas. Elsewhere, these layers are typically much deeper and are considered to be stable.