North Columbia

If dry snow exists in the alpine, watch for pockets of wind slab in lee terrain features.
Avalanche danger may increase on steep sun-exposed slopes.

Moderate

• Confidence is due to a stable weather pattern with little change expected.

On Tuesday, the region saw widespread natural slab avalanche activity up to size 3. This included persistent slabs, wet loose, storm and wind slab avalanche problems at all elevations.

With a cooling and drying trend on Thursday, we expect avalanche activity to taper significantly until the weekend warm up.

A 1 cm thick melt-freeze surface crust will likely exist up to 2200 m on all aspects. With sunny skies, this crust may break down during the day, showing moist snow surfaces on south-facing slopes. In the alpine, reactive wind slabs and wind-affected snow surfaces may be seen, as well as large looming cornices. Moist snow surfaces may exist up to 1800 m or higher.

The prominent mid-December facet/crust layer is buried over 1 m deep and extends up to 2200 m. Triggering the crust is considered unlikely, except with large loads or in thin snowpack areas.

Wednesday Night
Mostly cloudy. 1 to 2 cm of snow. 60 km/h west ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -5 °C. Freezing level valley bottom.

Thursday
Mostly sunny. 30 km/h northwest ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -7 °C. Freezing level valley bottom.

Friday
Sunny. 30 km/h northwest ridgetop wind. Alpine temperature 1 °C. Freezing level 2500 m.

Saturday
Sunny. 30 km/h west ridgetop wind. Alpine temperature 3 °C. Freezing level 3000 m.

More details can be found in the Mountain Weather Forecast.

• Avoid steep, rocky, and wind-affected areas where triggering slabs is more likely.
• Wind slabs are isolated, but may remain reactive.
• Avalanche activity is unlikely when a thick melt-freeze crust is present on the snow surface.