Cornices should be on your radar if you are traveling on ridgetops. Large cornices have a very nasty habit of breaking farther back than you expect, so give them a wide berth at all time.
Cornices have grown large recently but are generally not expected to fail naturally with the current and forecasted conditions. However, human-triggered cornices are possible so give them a wide berth when travelling on ridges and watch for signs that they may be weakening if they are exposed to extended periods of sun.
Not much change as the broad upper trough is still in place. Cool and unstable conditions, combined with daytime heating, will likely give scattered flurries across the southern part of the province. Warmer and closer to seasonal temperatures will arrive on Sunday and Monday.
FRIDAY NIGHT: Scattered flurries / light variable wind / treeline low around -10C / freezing level to valley bottom.
SATURDAY: Mix of sun and cloud with increasing cloudiness in the afternoon / light to moderate east wind / treeline high around -5 C / freezing level rising to 1500 m / 3-5 cm localized accumulations overnight.
SUNDAY: Mix of sun and cloud / light west wind / treeline high around -2 C / freezing level rising to 1600 m.
MONDAY: Mix of sun and clouds / moderate south wind / treeline high of +1 C / freezing level rising to 1800 m.
No new avalanches were reported in the last 24 hours. On Thursday, a large cornice failure triggered was reported from a northeast aspect in the central part of the region.
Observations are limited this time of year. If you are getting out in the backcountry, please consider contributing to the Mountain Information Network.
10-30 cm of snow sits over a widespread melt-freeze crust which formed during the major warming event on April 8. Periods of strong wind earlier this week have redistributed this snow in exposed terrain forming wind slabs which are now expected to have stabilized in most areas. Cornices have grown large recently but are expected to be relatively stable with the current cold temperatures. A new sun crust may now be forming on steep sun-exposed slopes.
A thick rain crust with facets above from early December is buried around 100-200 cm deep. Large avalanches were naturally triggered on this layer during the last significant warming event in the western part of the region near the Bugaboos. Although not a concern for the weekend, we expect it will wake up again with the next major input of warming and sun, or rainfall.
