Watch for wind slabs building throughout the day, especially if you see 10 cm or more of new snow.
Watch for new wind slabs building at upper elevations. In steep areas where the snow has no slab properties use appropriate sluff management techniques.
No new avalanches have been reported. Last Monday a small size 1 avalanche was accidentally triggered by a skier near Big White. See the MIN report here.
Looking forward, we expect triggering slab avalanches will be unlikely until we start to see more snow accumulating throughout Friday and Saturday.
If you head into the backcountry please consider submitting a MIN post.
5 to 10 cm of new snow is adding to the previous 10 to 20 cm of low-density old storm snow from earlier in the week. This snow covers a thin crust on sun-exposed slopes and surface hoar in wind-sheltered areas. In wind-exposed terrain at upper elevations, you may find variably wind-affected surfaces and potential new wind slabs forming. In wind-sheltered areas, the snow remains soft and low-density, but small loose dry avalanches remain possible in steep areas. Otherwise, the upper snowpack is largely faceted, with a crust and in some cases surface hoar from late January buried 30 to 40 cm. The rest of the snowpack has no current layers of concern.
Wednesday Night
Cloudy with 1 to 4 cm of snow. 15 to 25 km/h southwest ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -5 °C.
Thursday
Mostly cloudy with 0 to 2 cm of snow. 10 to 20 km/h west ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -4 °C.
Friday
Cloudy with up to 5 cm of snow. 20 to 30 km/h south ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -5 °C.
Saturday
Cloudy with up to 5 cm of snow. 30 to 40 km/h south ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -1 °C. Freezing level rising to 1600 m.
More details can be found in the Mountain Weather Forecast.
