South Rockies

Expect to see wind slabs on a variety of aspects as the wind switches from northwest to southwest on Friday.

• Watch for newly formed and reactive wind slabs as you transition into wind affected terrain.
• Be aware of the potential for loose avalanches in steep terrain where snow hasn't formed a slab.
• Recent wind has varied in direction so watch for wind slabs on all aspects.

Recent new snow has accumulated over faceted snow and/or previously wind-affected snow. At treeline and below there is a weak layer of facets over a crust, down 40 to 80 cm. This layer was reactive to skier triggering primarily on east aspects between 1500 and 2000 m last week in the south of the region.

The mid and lower snowpack contains a series of crusts and faceted snow.

The height of snow at treeline is roughly 80 to 150 cm.

Thursday Night

Mostly clear , northwest alpine wind 10 to 20 km/h, treeline temperature -21°C.

Friday

Mostly cloudy, 1-2 cm of snow, southwest alpine wind 20 to 40 km/h, treeline temperature -11 °C.

Mostly cloudy with isolated flurries, southwest alpine wind 20 to 50 km/h, treeline temperature -7 °C.

Mostly cloudy with isolated flurries, southwest alpine wind 15 to 30 km/h, treeline temperature -5 °C.

More details can be found in the Mountain Weather Forecast.

There was an explosives triggered size 2 wind slab avalanche reported on Thursday in the southern portion of the region. This ran on facets buried in early January.

There were a few natural wind slab, storm slab and dry loose avalanches to size 1 and 1.5 reported on Wednesday and Thursday.

If you go out in the backcountry, please consider sharing your observations on the Mountain Information Network (MIN).