Purcells

Warm, Wet, and Windy storm will create new wind slabs and add load above the persistent weak layer. Conservative terrain use recommended at this time.

Moderate - Timing, track, or intensity of incoming weather system is uncertain

Light snow with southwest winds increasing to strong overnight. Freezing level around 1500 metres overnight and rising to about 1700 metres on Thursday. 5-10 cm of new snow with strong southwest winds on Thursday. Winds decreasing to moderate westerly combined with light snow and dropping freezing levels on Friday. Overcast with flurries and light winds on Saturday.

Some skier controlled wind slab avalanches up to size 1.5 were reported on Tuesday from various alpine aspects. One size 2.0 avalanche released sympathetically to a skier controlled avalanche. No new natural avalanche activity was reported. I suspect that wind slabs have continued to develop in the alpine and at treeline on Wednesday.

Most areas are reporting new wind slabs that are 10-25 cm deep, that have developed from moderate to strong southwest winds. Old storm snow amounts are variable across the region from 30-60 cm, and continue to produce settlements and moderate sudden planar test results. The early January persistent weak layer of buried surface hoar continues to be a concern for human triggered large avalanches. Reports indicate this persistent weak layer is now typically down 40-70 cm in most areas and appears to be quite touchy in some parts of the region. A more deeply buried layer of surface hoar from December is now considered dormant. In general, the lower snowpack is well settled and strong.