Recent storm snow is sitting on a crust. Be cautious in areas where the new snow has been deposited by the wind.
30 to 40 cm of snow has accumulated during the storm, developing storm slabs at all elevations. Slabs are most reactive where they overlie a hard crust or hard wind pressed surface snow which is fairly wide spread in Crowsnest and Castle.
On Wednesday there was a report of a size 2 naturally triggered storm snow or persistent slab avalanche on near Elkford at around 1900 m.
There has been a report of an avalanche fatality in the neighboring region within the Flathead range on Tuesday. See this MIN post for more details.
Roughly 20 to 40 cm of storm snow has accumulated earlier in the week. Storm slabs likely sit over:
wind-pressed snow in high elevation lees
crust on exposed windward features, south aspects and low elevations
soft, faceted snow, possibly topped with small surface hoar crystals in sheltered areas.
The remainder of the snowpack is well consolidated, containing a number of crusts which are not of concern at this time.
Thursday Night
Mostly cloudy. 3 to 5 cm of snow. 20-30 km/h southwest ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -13 °C.
Friday
Mostly sunny. 20-30 km/h west ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -11 °C.
Saturday
Mix of sun and clouds. 15- 25 km/h southwest ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -11 °C.
Sunday
Mostly sunny. 20-40 km/h south ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -8 °C.
More details can be found in the Mountain Weather Forecast.
