While danger is decreasing, lingering instabilities may still exist. The most likely places to trigger an avalanche are shady, high elevation features without a surface crust.
Wind slabs may be triggerable in leeward terrain features at upper elevations where the snow stayed dry during the warm weather this week.
We are uncertain about the distribution and sensitivity of a surface hoar layer buried 40 to 80 cm deep. While it will be difficult to trigger at elevations where a crust has formed on the surface, it may linger on high north to east aspects.
Warm weather on Tuesday and Wednesday triggered numerous wet loose avalanches, mostly size 2. Earlier in the week, a few size 2 wind slab avalanches and cornice failures were also observed.
Although no recent persistent slab avalanches have been reported, this remains the main problem to monitor. The avalanches shown below from Barkerville last week illustrate this problem well.
A dusting of snow sits over a crust in most areas, except shady aspects in the high alpine where soft or wind affected dry snow may be found.
A persistent weak layer from early March, 40 to 80 cm deep, most likely exists as surface hoar on sheltered north and east aspects at treeline and above. Its distribution is variable, and there have been no substantial reports of recent avalanches, but it should still be considered when evaluating slopes.
Friday night
Cloudy with 0 to 2 cm of snow. 40 to 60 km/h northeast ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -8 °C.
Saturday
A mix of sun and cloud. 10 to 30 km/h southeast ridgetop wind, easing. Treeline temperature -6 °C.
Sunday
Sunny. 10 to 20 km/h northeast ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -1 °C. Freezing level 1800 m.
Monday
Sunny. 10 to 20 km/h southeast ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -1 °C. Freezing level 1800 m.
More details can be found in the Mountain Weather Forecast.
