Avalanche Forecast

Archived

Feb 20th, 2026–Feb 21st, 2026

Alpine

Natural avalanches unlikely, human triggered possible.

Treeline

Natural avalanches unlikely, human triggered possible.

Below Treeline

Natural avalanches unlikely, human triggered possible.

Alpine

Natural avalanches unlikely, human triggered possible.

Treeline

Natural avalanches unlikely, human triggered possible.

Below Treeline

Natural avalanches unlikely, human triggered possible.

Alpine

Natural avalanches unlikely, human triggered possible.

Treeline

Natural avalanches unlikely, human triggered possible.

Below Treeline

Natural avalanches unlikely, human triggered possible.

Regions

Kootenay Boundary, Bonnington, Grohman, Kootenay Pass, Norns, Rossland, Ymir, Kokanee, Valhalla, Whatshan.

Choose low-angle slopes without terrain traps to gather information in your area.

A weak layer exists in the upper snowpack and may be triggered by riders.

Confidence

Moderate

We are confident that there are persistent slabs in the snowpack, but uncertain about how likely they are to trigger.

Avalanche Summary

On Thursday there was a small rider-triggered slab near Edgewood, as well as numerous dry loose avaanches near Nelson.

On Wednesday there was a report of a size 2 skier triggered storm slab avalanche running on surface hoar buried in mid-February.

Earlier in the week there were several MIN posts describing small to large human-triggered and remotely triggered slab avalanches failing on crusts and/or surface hoar layers down roughly 30-50 cm.

Snowpack Summary

20 to 25 cm of storm snow has buried a complex upper snowpack. This region is highly variable, with similar weak layers that vary widely in depth and distribution:

On February 13th, a surface hoar layer and/or a crust on solar aspects was buried.
On February 7th, a surface hoar layer/crust layer (depending on aspect) was buried.
On January 26th, a surface hoar/crust layer sitting on a facet layer was buried and is down 60 to 80 cm.

This weak snowpack structure will continue to produce avalanches as storm snow settles.

The mid and lower snowpack remain well settled.

Weather Summary

Friday Night
Mostly clear skies. 10 km/h south ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -12 °C.

Saturday
Mostly sunny. 20 km/h south ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -9 °C.

Sunday
Mostly cloudy. 2 cm of snow. 30 to 50 km/h south ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -5 °C.

Monday
Mostly cloudy. 5 to 10 cm of snow. 40 to 60 km/h southwest ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -4 °C.

More details can be found in the Mountain Weather Forecast.

Terrain and Travel Advice

Keep your guard up as storm slabs may remain sensitive to human triggering.
Storm slabs in motion may step down to deeper layers resulting in large avalanches.
Be aware of the potential for remote triggering and large avalanches due to buried surface hoar.

Problems

Storm Slabs

Storm Slab avalanches are the release of a cohesive layer (a slab) of new snow that breaks within new snow or on the old snow surface. Storm-slabs typically last between a few hours and few days (following snowfall). Storm-slabs that form over a persistent weak layer (surface hoar, depth hoar, or near-surface facets) may be termed Persistent Slabs or may develop into Persistent Slabs.

Persistent Slabs

Persistent Slab avalanches are the release of a cohesive layer of snow (a slab) in the middle to upper snowpack, when the bond to an underlying persistent weak layer breaks. Persistent layers include: surface hoar, depth hoar, near-surface facets, or faceted snow. Persistent weak layers can continue to produce avalanches for days, weeks or even months, making them especially dangerous and tricky. As additional snow and wind events build a thicker slab on top of the persistent weak layer, this avalanche problem may develop into a Deep Persistent Slab.