New snow and wind are building fresh slabs over a variety of weak layers in the upper snowpack.
New snow and wind are building fresh slabs over a variety of weak surfaces. If triggered, they could step down to a buried crust up to 60 cm deep or more in wind loaded areas.
Natural, rider, and remotely triggered wind slab avalanches size 1-2 were reported throughout the region on Friday. Most were on north aspects at treeline and above. Many are suspected to have failed on underlying facets or crust, some approaching a meter deep.
Ongoing snowfall continues to accumulate upwards of 20-40 cm of new snow over predominantly faceted and wind-affected surfaces, as well as surface hoar in wind-sheltered terrain.
A couple of crusts exist in the top 60 cm of the snowpack that have proven to be problematic sliding surfaces over the last couple of weeks.
Below, the mid and lower snowpack is generally well-bonded and strong.
A series of cold fronts moving north to south brings convective snowfall with variable amounts and local enhancements for the weekend, followed by a cooling trend to start the week.
Saturday night
Cloudy with 5 to 15 cm of snow, highest amounts north of Stewart. 30 to 50 km/h southwest ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -10 °C.
Sunday
Mostly cloudy 5 to 15 cm of snow, highest amounts west of Terrace. 20 to 40 km/h southwest ridgetop wind, shifting north late in the day. Treeline temperature -7 °C.
Monday
A mix of sun and cloud. 10-25 km/h northeast ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -10 to -15 °C.
Tuesday
Mostly cloudy with flurries bringing up to 5 cm. Ridgetop wind increasing to 40 km/h southwest. Treeline temperature -15 to -20 °C.
More details can be found in the Mountain Weather Forecast.
