Northwest Coastal

Fair - Intensity of incoming weather systems is uncertain on Monday

Sunday: Mainly clear / Light northerly winds / Alpine temperatures at -15Monday: Heavy snowfall / Moderate to strong southwest winds / Freezing level at surfaceTuesday: Moderate to heavy snowfall / Moderate to strong southwest winds / Freezing level at surface

On Friday a skier accidentally triggered a size 1 wind slab on a north facing roll at 1700m. The faceted surface snow is also sluffing readily in steep terrain with skier traffic.

A highly variable snow surface includes surface facets, surface hoar, thin wind slabs, and scoured crust, or any combination thereof. Remember to take stock of current surface conditions if you're out in the mountains. Once buried by a cohesive slab, surface hoar or a thin layer of facets sitting on a crust almost always becomes a weak layer, and will often persist.In sheltered areas, large surface hoar is growing on approximately 10cm of faceted old storm snow sitting on the late January crust, which is likely faceted and laminated and could have surface hoar on top. The entire snowpack is likely faceting to some degree, especially where it is shallow. Basal facets and depth hoar are likely, but triggering is only a concern in thin and variable snowpack areas with large triggers.