Avalanche Forecast

Saturday night: 10-25 cm of new snow. Strong southwest winds, approaching extreme at ridgetop. Alpine low temperatures around -7. Freezing level around 500 m.

Sunday: Mix of sun and cloud with scattered flurries bringing 5-15 cm of new snow. Moderate west winds. Alpine high temperatures around -6. Freezing level around 500 m.

Monday: Mix of sun and cloud with isolated flurries bringing up to 5 cm of new snow. Light to moderate northwest winds. Alpine high temperatures around -7. 

Tuesday: Mostly cloudy with isolated flurries bringing a trace of snow. Light variable winds. Alpine high temperatures around -8. 

A widespread natural storm slab avalanche cycle is likely to have occurred throughout the region where more than 40 cm of snow fell on Friday.

On Saturday, storm slabs up to size 2.5 and loose dry up to size 2 were observed in the Shames area and the Skeena corridor. And windslab avalanches up to size 2.5 were reported in Bear Pass. Avalanches up to size 3 were reported from the neighboring Howson range during the storm on Friday.

Snowfall overnight will bring storm snow depths to 50-70 cm. In the alpine, the storm snow has likely been highly wind affected. Expect to find deep wind loaded pockets below ridgetops and the lee sides of exposed features. 

The new snow fell on a temperature crust up to treeline and extensive windslab at alpine and treeline elevations. The underlying snowpack is overall quite well consolidated, with an average depth of around 2 m. Two layers of surface hoar are now buried 80-150 cm deep but with a lack of recent associated avalanche activity, appear to be trending towards dormancy.

• Watch for fresh storm slabs building throughout the day.
• Continue to make conservative terrain choices while the storm snow settles and stabilizes.