New snow combined with strong winds will build new slabs over a variety of surfaces and may be touchy where they are building over a crust.
Select lower angle slopes, while storm snow settles.
Persistent weak layers remain capable of producing large avalanches, where there is no supportive crust. Avoid exposure to large open slopes.
Storm snow is expected to be reactive to natural and human triggers, especially where continued loading from snow or wind is observed. Deeper and more reactive deposits are expected in wind affected terrain.
Numerous large storm slab avalanches were reported near Revelstoke on Wednesday, both human and explosive triggered. Mostly running on the most recent crust.
With more storm snow and wind throughout the day we expect to see avalanche activity continue.
Up to 20 cm of new storm snow is expected to accumulate throughout the day bringing storm snow totals to 30 to 50 cm with the highest amounts southeast of Revelstoke.
This storm snow, coupled with strong southwest winds, will continue to form storm slabs over various surfaces—crusts at lower elevations and wind-affected, settled snow at upper elevations.
We continue to track two layers in the mid and lower snowpack. Reactivity of these layers now down over 100 cm is uncertain. They may remain reactive in high alpine terrain where no supportive crust is present.
Wednesday Night
Mostly cloudy. 1 to 5 cm of snow. 30 km/h southwest ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -8 °C. Freezing level 800 m.
Thursday
Cloudy. 5 to 20 cm of snow. 30 km/h south ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -7 °C. Freezing level 700 m.
Friday
Mostly cloudy. 10 to 20 cm of snow. 30 km/h southwest ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -7 °C. Freezing level 700 m.
Saturday
Mostly cloudy. 5 to 20 cm of snow. 30 km/h southwest ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -8 °C. Freezing level 100 m.
More details can be found in the Mountain Weather Forecast.
