Southwest winds have formed deposits of reactive wind slab.
Seek out sheltered terrain.
Southwest winds have formed reactive slabs on leeward terrain. These slabs will likely fail on firm, old surfaces.
Watch for corniced ridges, cross-loaded features, and convex rollovers.
Several natural wind slab avalanches, up to size 2, were reported to have failed above the highway on Thursday night.
Otherwise, field observations have been limited. If you head into the backcountry, please submit your observations to the Mountain Information Network.
Storm totals are expected to reach 45 cm by Saturday. Strong south winds have redistributed this snow into deep, reactive deposits on leeward terrain. This snow overlies firm surfaces and is not expected to bond well. In isolated areas, buried surface hoar may be found 60 to 75 cm deep. Below 1500 m, a thick melt-freeze crust is buried 50 to 100 cm deep. The mid-pack is generally strong and bridges the weak crystals at the base of the snowpack.
The average snowpack depth at treeline is around 200 cm.
Friday Night
Cloudy with 10 cm of snow. Freezing rain may occur. 60 to 80 km/h southwest ridgetop wind. Treeline temperatures around -2 °C. Freezing level rises to 1100 m.
Saturday
Mostly cloudy. 60 to 70 km/h southwest ridgetop wind. Treeline temperatures around +1 °C. Freezing level rising to 1500 m.
Sunday
Cloudy with 5 cm of snow. 50 to 60 km/h southwest ridgetop wind. Treeline temperatures around 0 °C. Freezing level drops to 1000 m.
Monday
Cloudy with a trace of snow flurries. 30 to 60 km/h southwest ridgetop wind. Treeline temperatures around -1°C. Freezing level 1000 m.
For more details, see the Mountain Weather Forecast.
More details can be found in the Mountain Weather Forecast.
