Overnight flurries and strong winds will build fresh wind slabs in the alpine and exposed treeline areas. Watch for wind loading around ridgecrests and steep rollovers.
Forecast overnight flurries and strong winds will contribute to new wind slab development. Freshly wind loaded pockets and older deposits that sit over surface hoar will be most reactive to human triggers.
Wednesday night: Flurries bringing around 10 cm new snow. Moderate west wind. Alpine low -10 C. Freezing level valley bottom.
Thursday: Mostly cloudy with a chance of isolated flurries late in the day. Moderate to strong southwest wind. Freezing level 800 m.
Friday: Flurries bringing 15-30 cm new snow. Strong southwest wind. Freezing level 800 m.
Saturday: Mostly cloudy with isolated flurries. Moderate south wind. Freezing level 600 m.
Tuesday was a day of varied avalanche activity. Explosive control work produced size 2.5-3 cornices. A natural wind slab size 2 was observed on a southeast aspect and ran to valley bottom in a steep, confined feature. Glide slabs were also observed, where full depth avalanches slid on rock slabs along the highway corridor west of Terrace.
Loose wet avalanches up to size 2 on steep solar aspects were observed on Monday. A few skier triggered storm slabs size 1-1.5 have been reported, on wind loaded features in the alpine, and running on surface hoar 40 cm deep at treeline.
Overnight snow is being redistributed and loaded into lee features by strong winds at alpine and exposed treeline elevations. At treeline and below, recent snow may sit over patchy surface hoar in wind sheltered areas or crusts on solar aspects.
A thin layer of facets that formed during the January cold snap is now about 120-170 cm below the surface while an early season crust lingers at the base of the snowpack. These layers produced a few large natural avalanches in early February but have recently been unreactive.
