South Rockies

Fair - Freezing levels are uncertain for the entire period

A firmly embedded ridge of high pressure will continue to dominate the region bringing clear skies and light southerly winds throughout the forecast period. An inversion with above freezing alpine temperatures will persist on Sunday, but will give way to a gradual cooling pattern forecast for Monday and Tuesday.

In the Bull River area on Saturday widespread natural activity to size 3 was reported on sun-exposed aspects in the alpine. On Friday, a size 3 natural slab avalanche was reported on sun-exposed alpine feature. This was thought to have ran on basal facets. In the neighboring Lizard range numerous deep releases to size 3.5 were reported on facets that formed in October. The same snowpack structure exists in many parts of the South Rockies region.

Storm snow from the last few weeks seems, for the most part, to be fairly well settled. In the mid snowpack sits the mid-December surface hoar layer. Lately this layer has been less of a concern. At the base of the snowpack basal facets and depth hoar seem fairly widespread in the region. The big story for the weekend has been warming at higher elevations due to an inversion and solar heating. Failing cornices, loose wet snow avalanches on sun-exposed slopes and isolated deep releases on basal facets have been the big things to watch for. In Elk Valley North and the Crowsnest, the average snowpack depth at treeline is 150 cms. Elk Valley S and the Flathead the snowpack depth is closer to 2 m.