The incoming storm will increase avalanche hazard. Keep it conservative.
A varied slab sits over the December 17th Facet-Surface Hoar layer. This problem is most significant in open tree line features and in the alpine where you can expect a stiffer, likely more reactive slab.
Strong to extreme southwesterly winds with up to 15cm of snow by Friday night will create wind and storm slabs. Depending on the strength of the winds, wind slabs may be present lower down the slopes than usual.
The bottom of the snow pack is inherently weak with well developed Facets and Depth Hoar. Avalanches initiating in the upper snowpack are likely to step down to this layer and gain significant mass.
A field team went up to Maligne today. No significant avalanche activity has been observed or reported.
If you're out in the hills, don't forget to post to the MIN. Every bit of information helps!
Increasing winds and up to 15mm of new snow is expected to start Thursday evening. This new snow will be covering surface hoar from Jan 7th in specific sheltered areas. Another layer of surface hoar and facets is down 20-40cm in sheltered areas. Large facets and depth hoar comprise the bottom portion of the snowpack. Snowpack depths vary from 50-100cm.
Friday
Cloudy with scattered flurries.
Accumulation: 5 cm.
Alpine temperature: High -1 °C.
Ridge wind southwest: 15 km/h gusting to 40 km/h.
Freezing level: 2100 metres.
Saturday
Mainly cloudy with isolated flurries.
Precipitation: Trace.
Alpine temperature: Low -5 °C, High -3 °C.
Ridge wind southwest: 10-30 km/h.
Freezing level: 1700 metres.
Detailed weather forecasts from Avalanche Canada: https://avalanche.ca/weather/forecast
