Triggering avalanches remains likely where new snow and wind has formed storm slabs, especially at higher elevations.
New snow, wind, and mild temperatures continue to form reactive storm slabs, especially at higher elevations and in wind affected terrain.
FRIDAY NIGHT: Cloudy with isolated flurries. Alpine temperature -5 C. Southwest wind 20-35 km/hr.
SATURDAY: Cloudy with scattered flurries, 5 cm. Alpine temperature -2 C. Southwest wind 20-30 km/hr. Freezing level 1400 m.
SUNDAY: Snow, 10-20 cm. Alpine temperature -2 C. Southwest wind 30-40 km/hr. Freezing level 1400 m.
MONDAY: Flurries, up to 10 cm. Alpine temperature -4 C. Southwest wind 15-20 km/hr with gusts to 50 km/hr. Freezing level 1200 m.
Early reports on Friday documented numerous small (size 1-1.5) storm slab avalanches triggered by explosives.
On Thursday, skiers triggered size 1-2 storm slab avalanches including this MIN report of a skier triggered avalanche at Kootenay Pass. This avalanche was triggered on a south aspect at treeline and ran for a long distance above the recently buried crust. Several loose wet avalanches were reported on southerly aspects below 2000 m.
No persistent slab avalanches have been observed since January 14, suggesting deep weak layers have become difficult to trigger under the current conditions.
With 20-40 cm of snow over the past few days, expect to find fresh storm and wind slabs. Warm temperatures have promoted settlement in the upper snowpack and moist surface snow below 1700 m. This new snow sits above a thin crust layer that formed last weekend.
We have been tracking two layers over the past month: a layer of surface hoar buried 80-120 cm below the surface and faceted crystals and crusts near the bottom of the snowpack in certain parts of the region (especially western areas such as the Rossland Range and Boundary region). Both of these layers have shown signs of being less reactive over the past 10 days.
