As new snow accumulates there is greater potential for human triggered avalanches.
As new snow accumulates on Wednesday expect storm slabs to build at upper elevations, especially on slopes that have been loaded by the wind.
TUESDAY NIGHT: 5-15 cm of snow overnight, 50 km/h wind from the southwest, alpine temperatures around -4 C.
WEDNESDAY: Flurries continue throughout the day with another 10-15 cm snow, 50 km/h wind from the southwest, alpine high temperatures around -4 C.
THURSDAY: Mostly cloudy with some isolated flurries, 30 km/h wind from the southwest, alpine high temperatures around -6 C.
FRIDAY: Scattered flurries bring up to 5 cm of new snow, 30-50 km/h wind from the southwest, alpine high temperatures around -4 C.
New snow and wind has formed fresh slabs that will be most reactive in wind affected terrain. As the storm snow started to accumulate on Tuesday there were some reports of skiers triggering small (size 1) storm slabs in the top 10 cm of snow.
By Wednesday afternoon there will be 15 to 35 cm of fresh snow from the storm passing through the region. The new snow is falling on hard surfaces including wind pressed snow and rain crusts. Snowpack depths are about 100 cm at treeline and taper quickly below treeline. The lower snowpack contains several 'sandwiched' layers of facets and crusts as well as a potential surface hoar layer (see video here). These type of layers can potentially develop into avalanche problems, but are most likely unreactive at the moment.
