South Rockies

Snow is available for transport and strong wind speeds are in the forecast.

New wind slabs will be building and may be found lower in terrain features.

Continually assess as you travel.

Moderate

• We are uncertain about how persistent slabs will react to the forecast weather.

Several small dry loose avalanches were reported throughout the region, mostly on north facing terrain.

On Friday, a skier triggered size 1.5 persistent slab was reported west of Invermere on a northeast aspect at 2000 m. The crown was 25 to 60 cm deep.

5 to 10 cm of new snow will cover a sun crust on solar facing terrain, and 30 to 50 cm of wind affected storm snow elsewhere.

Below the recent snow is a 1 to 10 cm thick crust on all aspects. The thickness of the crust depends on elevation.

At upper elevations, where the crust is thinner or not present, it may still be possible to trigger persistent slabs on multiple buried weak layers of surface hoar and/or crusts in the top 120 cm of the snowpack.

In shallow snowpack areas, depth hoar (large facets) can be found near the bottom of the snowpack.

Sunday Night
Mostly cloudy. 2 to 4 cm of snow. 50 km/h west ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -10 °C.

Monday
Mostly cloudy. 4 to 10 cm of snow. 70 km/h west ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -6 °C.

Tuesday
Mostly cloudy. 2 to 10 mm of mixed precipitation at treeline. 70 km/h west ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -1 °C.

Wednesday
Mostly cloudy. 4 to 15 mm of rain at treeline. 60 km/h southwest ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature 2 °C.

More details can be found in the Mountain Weather Forecast.

• Make conservative terrain choices and avoid overhead hazard.
• Watch for signs of instability like whumpfing, hollow sounds, shooting cracks, or recent avalanches.
• Expect slab conditions to change drastically as you move into wind-exposed terrain.
• Watch for newly formed and reactive wind slabs as you transition into wind-affected terrain.