Avalanche Forecast

Temperatures are expected to be on the cooler side again Friday before the big wave of warmth crashes into the region Saturday morning.  FRIDAY:  Freezing level starting at 1400 m, topping out at 1800 m, light to moderate southwest wind, no significant precipitation expected. SATURDAY:  Freezing level beginning around 1500 m, climbing to around 2500 m in the afternoon, no significant precipitation, light variable winds at and below treeline, moderate southwest wind at ridgetop.  SUNDAY: Freezing level beginning near 2800 m, rising to around 3500 m by the afternoon, no significant precipitation, moderate southwest wind.

In the neighboring Sea-2-Sky region, small storm slab avalanches to size 1.5 were reported from upper elevations Wednesday.  (No new avalanches were reported in this region on Tuesday or Wednesday.)

Cornices are large, fragile, and could trigger deep slab avalanches that run to valley bottoms. Monitoring the overnight freeze of the snow surface is very important during the spring. If the snow surface does not freeze overnight or if the crust is only a few cm thick, the effect of daytime heating and solar radiation will weaken the snowpack much more quickly than it would if there is a well frozen thick crust. This is because the crust must first melt before the sun can weaken the snowpack. There is an old crust layer down approximately 50cm in the Duffey area and north of Pemberton. This layer has generally been dormant but resulted in a couple large avalanches during the last major warming event and produced a couple explosive triggered avalanches on Thursday. With continued warming, this layer could wake-up in isolated locations such as steep, rocky faces. Glide cracks are widespread, active, and best avoided. Low elevation and thin snowpack areas have become isothermal, meaning the snowpack is 0 degrees Celsius throughout. An isothermal snowpack is more prone to full depth wet slab avalanches during the heat of the day, especially on steep, rocky faces.