Expect to find wind slabs on all of aspects. As temperatures are forecast to climb gradually, expect the likelihood of human triggered avalanches to increase.
Recent new snow and new south westerly winds are promoting fresh wind slab development on top of older wind slabs and/or weak faceted snow.
There was an explosives triggered size 2 wind slab avalanche reported on Thursday in the southern portion of the region. This ran on facets buried in early January.
There were a few natural wind slab, storm slab and dry loose avalanches to size 1 and 1.5 reported on Wednesday and Thursday.
If you go out in the backcountry, please consider sharing your observations on the Mountain Information Network (MIN).
Recent new snow has accumulated over faceted snow and/or previously wind-affected snow. Expect current south west wind to transport this new snow onto north aspect lee terrain. At treeline and below there is a weak layer of facets over a crust, down 40 to 80 cm. This layer was reactive to skier triggering primarily on east aspects between 1500 and 2000 m last week in the south of the region.
The mid and lower snowpack contains a series of crusts and faceted snow.
The height of snow at treeline is roughly 80 to 150 cm.
Friday
Mostly cloudy, trace amounts of snow, southwest alpine wind 20 to 40 km/h, treeline temperature -11 °C.
Saturday
Mostly cloudy with isolated flurries, southwest alpine wind 20 to 50 km/h, treeline temperature -7 °C.
SundayMostly cloudy with 1 to 3 cm of snow, southwest alpine wind 15 to 30 km/h, treeline temperature -5 °C.
MondayMostly cloudy with isolated flurries, southwest alpine wind 10 to 30 km/h, treeline temperature -1 °C.
More details can be found in the Mountain Weather Forecast.
