Storm snow is starting to pile up, and may continue to do so quickly, in some areas of the region.
As winds increase Monday evening, be on the lookout for fresh and sensitive windslabs Tuesday.
It remains to be seen how the new load will affect the deep persistent problem but a more conservative approach is advised.
10cm of snow arrived with mod to strong SW winds on Sunday morning and an additional 10 to 20cm arrived with light to mod winds by Monday morning. Soft slabs are failing naturally and are reactive to skiers. More snow and increasing winds in the forecast will add to the rapid development of these slabs.
Occasional large results are still seen with explosives, mainly on the east side of the forecast area and especially in thin-to-thick snowpack transitions. The load over these layers is on the rise and with windslabs starting to fail naturally, it is time to limit your exposure to the alpine.
Weather conditions have led to poor visibility over the past 2 days, however the ski patrols report working with fresh windlabs:
Sunshine Village reported constant wind transport today with two naturals in N facing alpine terrain and ski cuts producing soft slabs 20-50cm deep up to sz 1.5.
Similarly, Lake Louise found soft ridgetop slabs around 30cm deep reactive to ski cuts to sz 1 and up to sz 1.5 with explosives.
15 to 30 cm of snow has arrived in the past 48 hrs with winds averaging in the moderate range out of the SW forming fresh slabs. This new snow sits over older windslabs, surface hoar to treeline, and some suncrust on steep solar aspects.
There is 40-80 cm over the Dec 15 melt-freeze crust, which is present to 1800-2000 m, and 80-160 cm over the November facet/crust interfaces. In thinner snowpack areas, facets are present at the base.
Treeline snow depths range from 100-200+ cm.
The current SW flow will give way to a strong NW flow approaching the region.
Temperatures will drop Monday night to remain near -10C at treeline.SW winds will increase into the moderate to strong range before backing off through Tuesday. An additional 10-20cm of snow can be expected Tuesday favouring areas north of the TCH and the divide... more is forecast for Wednesday.
