Recent wind effect has been extensive. Avalanches are most likely to fail on steep westerly through southerly wind-affected slopes near ridgetops.
Recent strong to extreme easterly winds have built wind slabs on leeward slopes. These slabs may be poorly bonded to an underlying crust.
On Thursday cracking and whumpfing, which are signs of instability, were noted in the Smithers area.
A few large (size 2) wind slab avalanches were reported last week. We suspect with recent and forecast wind, that wind slabs may remain reactive to human triggering over the next few days.
Early season reports have been extremely limited. Please consider submitting your observations to the Mountain Information Network.
Wind slabs have formed on many lee slopes. Expect to find sastrugi and wind-scoured surfaces in all open wind-exposed areas at upper elevations.
A rain crust from early November is likely buried 30 to 50 cm deep and may be poorly bonded to overlying wind slabs.
Most areas below treeline do not have enough snow to meet the threshold for avalanches.
Alpine snow depths vary across the region, but are roughly 100 cm west of Smithers and 50 cm to the east. The Ningunsaw area also has around 100 cm in the alpine.
Friday Night
Mostly cloudy with 1 to 4 cm of snow. 50 to 60 km/h east wind. Treeline temperature -12 °C.
Saturday
Cloudy with 0 to 2 cm of snow. 35 to 50 km/h east wind. Treeline temperature -11 °C.
Sunday
Partly cloudy with 0 to 2 cm of snow. 20 to 40 km/h east wind. Treeline temperature high -12 °C.
Monday
Mostly sunny. 10 to 15 km/h variable wind. Treeline temperature high -11°C
More details can be found in the Mountain Weather Forecast.
