Continued cold weather with little new snow expected. Watch for pockets of wind slab at higher elevations.
Weather Forecast
Clear and cold overnight with light northeast winds, alpine low temperatures around -20. Clear and cold on Thursday with light easterly winds. Cloud developing Thursday evening as the winds become moderate from the southwest. Light snow or flurries on Friday with alpine temperatures around -15 combined with moderate southwest winds. Overcast on Saturday with light westerly winds and a chance of light snow.
Avalanche Summary
A few small size 1.0 soft cornice releases were reported from the Selkirks north of Nakusp on Tuesday. Natural avalanches up to size 2.0 continued to be reported on Monday from isolated areas in the north of the region in the Monashee ranges. At least one of these was triggered by a natural cornice fall. On Sunday, natural, skier, and explosive triggered storm slab avalanches up to size 1.5 were reported. The majority of this activity was occurring in wind loaded features on north and northeast aspects.
Snowpack Summary
The recent storm snow is settling slowly due to the cold temperatures. Variable wind effect has created wind slabs in the alpine in some areas, and others report little or no wind resulting in loose unconsolidated snow. The depth of the mid-november crust is also variable across the region. Reports have the crust down between 100-200 cm and snowpack tests have produced a wide array of results from moderate sudden planar to hard resistant planar. Watch for near surface facets developing in the upper snowpack that may develop a poor bonding layer before the next storm. If you dig down to the crust, watch for facets developing above and/or below that may provide a weak layer above a smooth sliding surface in the future.
Problems
Wind Slabs
Wind Slab avalanches are the release of a cohesive layer of snow (a slab) formed by the wind. Wind typically transports snow from the upwind sides of terrain features and deposits snow on the downwind side. Wind slabs are often smooth and rounded and sometimes sound hollow, and can range from soft to hard. Wind slabs that form over a persistent weak layer (surface hoar, depth hoar, or near-surface facets) may be termed Persistent Slabs or may develop into Persistent Slabs.