Avalanche Forecast

Low - Due to the number of field observations

A storm impacts the coast Sunday which should start to erode the ridge of high pressure that has been plaguing the province for the last week. A bit of snow may venture into the region Sunday with potential for another wee storm Tuesday night into Wednesday. SATURDAY NIGHT: Freezing level at valley bottom, light to moderate southwest wind, no significant precipitation expected.SUNDAY: Broken cloud cover, freezing level at valley bottom, moderate southwest wind for most of the day with potential for some stronger alpine gusts in the late afternoon, trace of precipitation possible.MONDAY: Overcast, freezing level near valley bottom, moderate west wind in the alpine, trace of precipitation possible.TUESDAY: Overcast, freezing level near valley bottom, moderate west/southwest wind in the alpine, trace of precipitation possible. Potential for 3 to 10 cm of snow Tuesday night.

On Thursday and Friday avalanche activity was limited to small (size 1) loose dry avalanches that were sensitive to skier traffic in steep terrain.Several small natural wind slab releases were observed in the Whitewater area on Wednesday. These occurred on steep alpine features and may have been a product of recent northerly winds. Big thanks go out to our contributors to the Mountain Information Network. Please continue to post your observations here.

Check out this great video that summarizes conditions in the Whitewater backcountry. Ongoing cold temperatures and clear skies have formed feathery surface hoar that sits on top of the snowpack. The cold has also been transforming the upper 20 cm of snow into weak sugary facets. At treeline, the height of snow is between about 100 and 140 cm. 40 to 80 cm below the surface there is a closely stacked pair of buried persistent weak layers. The upper layer consists of surface hoar (feathery crystals) in most places, but may present as a sun crust on steep south facing slopes. The deeper layer features similar surface hoar distribution over a more widespread temperature crust. Both layers are thought to be widespread at treeline and may also extend into sheltered alpine features. These layers are trending towards dormancy, but may remain problematic on steep solar aspects.At the base of the snowpack is a thick melt-freeze crust that formed near the end of October. Observations of reactivity at this crust have been limited, but it previously acted as a failure plane in several large avalanches in the South Columbias.