- Date
- Tuesday, February 3, 2026
- Tagged under
Warming is making for worrying conditions in the some of our forecast regions.
Transcript:
Here's a special mid-week conditions update with Wendy from Avalanche Canada. It's February 3rd, 2026, and we're about to see a significant change in weather and avalanche danger. We're heading into a major warming trend as an atmospheric river drives temperatures up across western Canada this week. To complicate things, a widespread layer of large surface hoar sitting on a crust has been freshly buried across most forecast regions.
Recent avalanche activity has shown just how reactive this layer is, with natural and accidental avalanches catching backcountry users off guard. We've also had reports of remote triggering, which tells us the snowpack is still unstable. Freezing levels rose to around 2000 m today in many areas, and are expected to climb above 3000 m tomorrow in the south. With sunshine in the mix, expect a rapid shift to spring-like conditions.
We have some uncertainty over exactly how this will play out, but we know avalanche danger will rise and widespread natural avalanches may occur. On the coast, more rain is expected on an already saturated snowpack. Our greatest concern is for the interior, where this layer hasn't yet been tested by warm temperatures and warm conditions are expected to persist into the weekend, meaning dangerous avalanche conditions will stick around for many regions.
Match your terrain choices to local conditions and always check the avalanche forecast before heading out.