In the past few days, several wind slab avalanches up to size 2.5 have been triggered by skiers. Avalanches were predominantly triggered on north and east aspects at treeline and above. The atmospheric river crust has been the failure plane for almost all of them.

Wind slab reactivity has persisted longer than usual due to poor bond to the crust below.

Up to 15 cm of recent snowfall overlies wind-affected surfaces and wind slabs, found primarily on north through to east aspects.

The thick crust that formed as a result of the recent atmospheric river event is found down 40 to 80 cm. This crust extends up to at least 2300 m.

Weak layers from February can be found down 150 cm and deeper and have shown no recent reactivity.

Sunday Night

Partly cloudy. 2 to 3 cm of snow. 30 km/h west ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -10 °C.

Monday

Mostly sunny. 20 km/h northwest ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -11 °C.

Tuesday

Mostly sunny. 20 km/h southwest ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -9 °C.

Wednesday

Mix of sun and clouds. 1 cm of snow. 20 km/h south ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -5 °C.

More details can be found in the Mountain Weather Forecast.

Avalanche activity has been tapering in the region and explosives control accounts for most of it. On Thursday, a control route north of the Bugaboos produced three persistent slabs, size 2 to 3.5; the largest propagated widely and ran full path.

A size 2 cornice and size 2 storm slab were among the results, all of which occurred at 2600 m or higher. A few small explosives-triggered and natural wind slab were reported east of Invermere.

If you get out for a look around, post a MIN!

Light flurries have given a thin cover to sun crust on solar aspects and otherwise added to 20 to 35 cm of recent snow, which was redistributed by southwest wind and formed slabs on lee aspects a few days ago. Where sheltered, this snow is settling and bonding well to a thick crust found on all aspects up to at least 2200 m.

Various persistent weak layers may still exist in the top 150 cm of the snowpack and in shallow snowpack areas, depth hoar (large facets) can be found near the bottom of the snowpack. Large triggers, like falling cornices, may be able to trigger these layers at upper elevations where the crust below the recent snow is thin or absent.

Sunday Night
Partly cloudy with scattered flurries bringing up to 5 cm of new snow. 20 to 40 km/h west ridgetop wind, easing. Treeline temperature falling to -10 °C.

Monday
Mainly sunny. 20 km/h west ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -11 °C.

Tuesday
Mainly sunny. 20 km/h south ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature climbing to -5 °C as freezing level rises to 1500 m.

Wednesday
A mix of sun and cloud with isolated flurries. 20 to 30 km/h southeast ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -5 °C.

More details can be found in the Mountain Weather Forecast.

No new avalanche observations.

Natural avalanches up to size 2.5 through the highway corridor on Tuesday-Thursday.

A widespread, natural avalanche cycle occurred up to size 4.0 on Mar 19-20 during the atmospheric river. Check out pics from the recent mega avalanche cycle in the MIN Reports. It shows some of the huge debris piles that are making travel challenging.

15-50cm of recent storm snow has been redistributed by SW winds, creating wind slabs in exposed terrain. Travel is challenging below treeline with frozen tree bombs and huge avalanche debris from last week's super storm.

Below the storm snow, a strong crust exists up into treeline. Another crust from early March is down 70-150cm.

The Jan 26 surface hoar layer is now buried 150-210cm deep. This layer is not a concern for human triggering with bridging crusts above.

Sun and cloud with isolated flurries.

Tonight Scattered flurries. 5cm. Alpine low -13°C. Ridge wind W 15-35km/h. Freezing level (FZL) valley bottom.

Mon Mix of sun and clouds. Trace precipitation. High -11°C. Wind W 15-30km/h. FZL 800m.

Tues Cloudy with sunny periods. High -5°C. Wind S 10-30km/h. FZL 1500m.

Wed Cloudy, scattered flurries. 5cm. High -2°C. Wind SE 10-30km/h. FZL 1800m.