A few cms fell throughout the day but not enough to change the skiing from thin to deep! A storm is forecast to cross the region this weekend that will hopefully give us another 10-20cm. Watch for windslabs as your approach treeline and above failing at the recent snow interface or above the October crust. . Keep pushing out the MINs! We look at this content daily.
Watch for old pockets of windslabs or storm slabs along ridgelines. Dig down to evaluate the recent HST interface. This layer seems more reactive in the Highwood zone that recieved more snow.
No new observations on Wednesday but field teams were training for the better part of the day.
Light snowfall throughout the day on Wednesday but only a few cm's of accumulation. Winds were lights out of the east and temperatures were cool all day!
Last weeks storm snow which varied from 20-30cm is slowly settling under the influence of the cooler temperatures. Sheers at the storm snow interface are beginning to strengthen becoming more moderate in nature. A layer to pay close attention to is the October temperature crust near ground in many areas. Along the smith Dorrien highway forecasters were seeing weak facetted crystals develop above and below this crust producing whumpfing as then travelled. As this layer takes more load (such as this weekend) we may see it become more reactive. At Highwood area the crust is thinner but the storm snow was more reactive as the upslope storm deposited more snow in this area.
Lots of uncertainty in the snowpack to start the year so be curious and dig and look and talk with your partners! Its thin.... Even a small avalanche would hurt getting carried over rocks.
See image Below.
More details can be found in the Mountain Weather Forecast.
