Avalanche Forecast
South Rockies
Forecast snow fall amounts are uncertain: If you see more than 20 cm of new snow, it's time to dial back your terrain choices and take a close look at how the new snow is bonding to the old snow surfaces.
Avalanche Problem 1: Storm Slabs
What Elevation?
Which Slopes?
Chances of Avalanches?
Expected Size?
Travel and Terrain Advice
- Use caution in lee areas in the alpine and tree line, especially east facing slopes.
- Observe for signs of instability, such as cracking, whumpfing, and avalanche activity.
- Keep an eye out for localized areas of deeper snow accumulation, particularly on eastern slopes.
Avalanche Summary
Many wet loose and dry loose avalanches to size 1.5 were reported on sunny aspects on Friday. Isolated natural storm slab activity to size 2 was also noted on east facing fan features, likely running during Thursday's storm. See this MIN post for more information.
Snowpack Summary
The last precipitation in this region was Thursday into Friday, with snow at higher elevations (up to 25 cm of snow) and rain at low elevations. This precipitation fell on a thick melt-freeze crust that exists on all aspects from previous warm temperatures and rain, except for possibly higher elevations on north aspects.
Sunny conditions on Friday (and some locations on Saturday as well) created moist surface snow on sunny aspects, which froze to form a 2-5 cm thick crust overnight. Lingering wind slabs can still be found in the alpine, immediately behind ridge crests.
A weak layer of surface hoar buried mid-February exists in parts of the region around 50 to 80 cm deep. The lower snowpack is weak with a combination of crusts and facets near the bottom of the snowpack that are widespread.
Weather Forecast
Snow fall totals are uncertain Sunday evening into Monday, with 5cm on the low end and 20 cm being the upper end of forecast amounts.
SUNDAY NIGHT: Snow. 5-15cm likely. Overnight lows near -7 Celsius. Light southerly winds.
MONDAY: Cloudy with lingering flurries (up to 5 cm additional snow). Moderate westerly winds. Alpine temperature +1 C. Freezing level rising to 1600 m.
TUESDAY: Cloudy with sunny breaks. Light westerly winds. Alpine temperature +2 C. Freezing level 1700 m.
WEDNESDAY: Cloudy with sunny breaks. Light to moderate westerly winds. Alpine temperature +2 C. Freezing level 1800 m.
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Avalanche Canada has switched to an RSS feed for its daily forecasts. This is a much more flexible method that allows automatic delivery to your email inbox, or to an RSS reader of your choice.
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Watch for signs of poor bonding of the new snow with underlying surfaces, especially the March 15th crust, which can be found almost everywhere except high north facing aspects. Dry loose sluffs may run fast and far on slippery crusts.