South Columbia

Be cautious as conditions change with daytime warming

Good - The weather pattern is stable

A series of high pressure ridges has been blocking the southern interior from any significant Pacific moisture for the past few weeks and is forecast to hold for the next short while.Saturday: A mix of sun and cloud. The freezing level remains near 1800 m and winds ease to light. Sunday: Mainly sunny. The freezing level jumps to a little over 2000 m and wind could rise to moderate SW by the end of the day.

Avalanche activity reports in the last few days have been confined to skier-triggered size 1 to 1.5 wind slabs in exposed alpine terrain and loose snow sluffing in steep terrain. .

Variable recent storm snow totals across the region are generally in the 5-25 cm range. The snow surface varies with elevation and aspect with respect to sun and wind exposure, and includes dry new snow, loose facetted snow, wind slabs, and sun crusts. The mid-February crust is down around 10-30 cm where it isn't wind loaded or scoured. The late-Jan crust/surface hoar layer (up to 100 cm deep) and the mid-January surface hoar (80-120 cm deep) are generally dormant, and chances of triggering these weaknesses have decreased. However, triggering may be possible with a large input such as cornice fall, or an avalanche stepping down, especially on slopes that see a lot of sun.