Expect the new snow to become increasingly reactive as temperatures climb above freezing. Stick to conservative terrain.
Storm slabs may become increasingly reactive as temperatures rise. Slabs may fail deeper than expected where a weak layer of facets exists beneath the storm snow.
Loose wet avalanches will become increasingly likely at lower elevations as rain soaks the upper snowpack.
A few wind slab avalanches were reported east of Prince George on Thursday. They were skier-controlled size 1.5 on steep north-facing convex rolls, running on the January facet layer.
Observations are limited in the region. If you go out in the backcountry, please consider sharing your observations on the Mountain Information Network (MIN).
30-50 cm of new snow is becoming heavy and wet as freezing levels creep up the mountain. At the highest alpine elevations, it may be redistributed by strong southwest wind.
A layer of facets is now buried 50-80 cm deep. This layer has been observed to be bonding recently but the significant new snow load may have a destabilizing effect in the short term.
The mid snowpack is generally strong and well bonded including a prominent crust buried 50-90 cm deep below 1400 m.
Saturday night
Mostly cloudy with 10-15 cm of new snow. Southwest alpine wind 50-60 km/h. Treeline temperature 0 °C. Freezing level 1800 m.
Sunday
Mostly cloudy. Southwest alpine wind 40-50 km/h. Treeline temperature 0 °C. Freezing level 2000 m, rising to 3000 m overnight.
Monday
Mostly cloudy with 5 mm of mixed precip. Southwest alpine wind 40-50 km/h. Treeline temperature +4 °C. Freezing level 3000 m dropping to 2300m.
Tuesday
15-20 mm of rain overnight then 10-15 mm mixed precip turning to snow over the day. Southwest alpine wind 50-70 km/h. Treeline temperature -1 °C. Freezing level dropping to 1500 m.
More details can be found in the Mountain Weather Forecast.
