Avalanche Forecast

Benign weather until the next frontal system hits the region on Sunday night.

THURSDAY NIGHT: Clearing skies overnight, light wind from the northwest, alpine temperatures drop to -12 C.

FRIDAY: Mix of sun and cloud, light wind from the south, alpine high temperatures around -8 C.

SATURDAY: A trace amount of snow overnight then a mix of sun and cloud during the day, 30-50 km/h wind from the southwest, alpine high temperatures around -5 C.

SUNDAY: Another frontal system arrives with increasing intensity throughout the day, 5 to 15 cm of new snow by the late afternoon, 50-80 km/h wind from the southwest, alpine high temperatures around -3 C.

No recent avalanches have been reported, but earlier this week there were a few reports of (mostly small) naturally triggered wind slab avalanches on east aspects. Recent snow may remain unstable over the next few days in steep wind affected terrain.

Please submit your observations to the Mountain Information Network!

Recent storms delivered moderate amounts of snow (5 cm around Smithers and up to 20 cm further west) with strong wind from the southwest. Expect heavily wind affected snow in open terrain and watch for unstable slabs on slopes that have been loaded by the wind. Snowpack depths range from 60 cm in eastern parts of the region up to over 100 cm in western parts of the region. Lower elevation terrain may still be below the threshold for avalanches. Reports suggest the bottom half of the snowpack consists of crusts, and in some cases some weak snow may be developing around these crusts. This will be a feature to monitor as the season progresses.

• Be careful as you transition into wind affected terrain.
• Be especially cautious near rock outcroppings, on steep convexities and anywhere the snowpack feels thinner than average.