Avalanche Forecast

Moderate -

A ridge of high pressure keeps the region cold and dry for the next few days. Wednesday and Thursday are expected to sunny with light northeast wind and treeline temperatures around -15C. Increasing cloud cover is expected on Friday in advance of a weak storm system which is currently forecast to arrive early Saturday.

On Monday, several natural wind slab and storm slab avalanches up to size 2.5 were reported. These slabs were typically 30-50 cm thick and failed on a variety of aspects at treeline and in the alpine.  Skiers also triggered several size 1 slabs. On Sunday, a skier triggered a size 1 wind slab north of Wells Grey on a northeast aspect which was 5-15 cm thick.On Wednesday, recently formed storm slabs and wind slabs are expected to remain reactive to human triggering, especially on steep and unsupported or convex slopes. Winds have recently switched from south to north and wind slabs should be expected on all aspects.Persistent slab avalanches also remain a serious concern for the region. Last week there were numerous large human triggered avalanches and several of these avalanches involved multiple people being buried. These avalanches all released on or stepped down to the mid-December weak layer down 1-1.5 m in the snowpack. Check out this list of recent near misses which includes many in the Cariboo region.

10-60 cm of new snow accumulated on Sunday and Monday with the largest amounts in the north of the region.  Strong shifting winds have formed wind slabs on a variety of aspects in wind exposed terrain. The mid-January interface is now down 50-100 cm and consists of buried surface hoar in sheltered areas, old wind slabs in exposed terrain, and/or widespread faceted old snow. The interface has generally stabilized but isolated weaknesses may still exist where buried surface hoar is preserved. The mid-December surface hoar/facet weakness is now found down 70 cm in shallow snowpack areas, or as much as 1.5 m in deeper snowpack areas. This layer woke up during the last storm and has remained reactive to human triggers. This weak layer is responsible for several large human-triggered avalanches, including some with multiple burials, and the layer may continue to remain reactive for the foreseeable future.  Click here for a new blog post with more details.