We may see a slight rise in hazard on Saturday afternoon due to solar inputs and the alpine temperature inversion. Keep this in mind if you are in confined terrain with slopes above you in the sun. Watch for wind slabs, and enjoy the sunshine!
Wind slabs exist in the alpine and some tree line locations that may be possible to trigger in steep terrain. They are sitting on a variety of surfaces including old wind effect, surface hoar, sun crusts and facets.
The inversion will continue Friday night and into Saturday with warmer alpine temperatures of around -6 C, cooler treeline temperatures, and valley bottom temperatures as low as -18 C. Alpine winds will increase Saturday into the strong range out of the WNW which should keep things cool. Skies should remain clear.
Extensive wind effect in the alpine and some treeline elevations. 20-40 cm of soft faceted recent storm snow in sheltered areas over the Feb 15 interface. The Jan 30th surface hoar/sun crust layer is down 35 to 60 cm and variable in distribution and reactivity, producing moderate sudden planar to no results in snowpack tests.
A remote cornice failure triggered a size 3 avalanche in Kootenay National Park on Wednesday. On Thursday, the local ski areas reported a few small wind slab avalanches up to size 1 with explosives control. No new natural avalanches observed or reported on Friday.
