South Columbia

A good dusting of fresh snow should improve the snow quality but watch for deep and touchy pockets of wind slab in wind exposed terrain.

Good

The ridge of high pressure rebuilds and should result in clearing skies in most parts of the Province. However, there is a weak cold front sliding in from the east that could bring cloud and light snow to parts of the Southern Interior (particularly the east side of Purcells). By Sunday all regions should be enjoying sunny skies. The freezing level on Saturday is 500-1000 m and it bumps up a couple hundred metres each day. Ridge winds are light gusting to moderate from the NW to NE.

Avalanche activity has gradually tapered off throughout the week. On Thursday there were a couple reports of natural cornice falls, but these did not trigger slabs. There were also a few reports of size 1 skier controlled wind slabs from East facing slopes. These were typically around 20 cm deep. Wind slabs could build and remain sensitive to rider triggering throughout the weekend.

A dusting of new snow (around 10 cm) covers the previous variable snow surface of surface hoar, crusts, dry facetted snow, or wind affected snow depending on aspect and elevation. The "Valentine's Day" crust is just below the surface and is now strong and thick in most places. New wind slabs may have formed in lee terrain from recent W-NW winds, and cornices remain large and weak. The late-Jan crust/surface hoar layer (up to 100 cm deep) and the mid-January surface hoar (80-120 cm deep) continue to give variable results in snowpack tests. Chances of triggering these weaknesses have decreased, but triggering may be possible from thin or rocky snowpack areas; or perhaps with a cornice fall, or an avalanche stepping down, especially on sun drenched slopes.