Watch for poorly bonded wind slabs on steep alpine features.
While most open areas are heavily wind affected, the most likely places to trigger a slab are steep, north-facing alpine features.
The AvCan field team observed small natural wind slab avalanches on Mount Arrowsmith during the peak of Tuesday’s storm. Observations from the Prince of Wales Range on Wednesday suggest these slabs were becoming better bonded.
Looking ahead, wind slabs should continue to stabilize but may still be possible to trigger on some steep alpine features.
Heavily wind-affected snow from Tuesday should be settling quickly, though some deeper deposits at high elevations may remain unstable. In sheltered areas, 30 to 40 cm of recent snow sits on a thick rain crust that formed over the weekend. The mid and lower snowpack are well settled and dense, with treeline depths averaging 100 to 150 cm.
Wednesday Night
Partly cloudy. 1 to 4 cm of snow. 40 km/h west ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -5 °C.
Thursday
Mostly cloudy. 1 to 2 cm of snow. 40 km/h west ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -3 °C.
Friday
Cloudy. 10 to 15 mm of precipitation starting as snow and switching to rain as freezing level climbs from 1000 to 1500 m throughout the day. 50 km/h southwest ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature 0 °C.
Saturday
Mostly cloudy. 10 to 30 mm of rain, some wet alpine snow possible. 60 km/h south ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature 1 °C. Freezing level 1400 to 1800 m.
More details can be found in the Mountain Weather Forecast.
