Lizard-Flathead

Wind slabs in lee features below ridgetops may still be reactive to human triggers on Sunday.

20-30 cm of recent storm snow is settling rapidly.  This new snow is sitting on a sun crust on solar aspects. Cornices are large and prone to failure over the weekend caused by forecast sunny skies.In the upper to mid snowpack, a surface hoar or facet layer buried mid-February is now 80 to 110 cm below the surface on sheltered northerly aspects. Deeper in the snowpack, the widespread mid-December and late November weak layers are composed of a combination of crusts and sugary facets which are down 200-300 cm. These layers have been dormant but may be awoken by the warm and sunny weather throughout the weekend or by a large trigger such as a falling cornice.

High -

SUNDAY: Sunny / Light southwesterly ridgetop winds / Freezing level rising to around 2300 m.MONDAY: Sunny / Light southwesterly ridgetop winds / Freezing level rising to around 2400 m.TUESDAY: Sunny / Moderate to strong southwesterly ridgetop winds / Freezing level rising to around 3000 m.

A widespread natural avalanche cycle occurred near Fernie on Friday. Numerous storm slabs up to size 2.5 were reported primarily on north and northeasterly aspects between 1800-2100 m. These storm slabs will become less of a concern in the coming days but the forecast warming and sunshine may wake up a deeper weak layer on steep south facing slopes resulting in large and destructive avalanches.