Keep your wits about you as sun and above zero temperatures affect alpine slopes this weekend.
Confidence
High - Due to the number and quality of field observations
Weather Forecast
A dominant ridge of high pressure brings light northerly winds, sun and increasingly mild temperatures in the alpine. Below about 1700 m, expect valley cloud, flurries and cold temperatures. Alpine temperatures are expected to reach 0 degrees by Friday afternoon.For more details check out https://avalanche.ca/weather.
Avalanche Summary
Several small loose dry avalanches, small soft slab avalanches, and cornice releases have been reported over the last couple of days. Progressive warming in the alpine with ongoing sunny conditions could result in ongoing loose natural avalanches from south-facing slopes and by the weekend may create slab properties within the recent storm snow.
Snowpack Summary
20-40 cm of settling low density snow overlies a generally strong snowpack. You may encounter wind slabs which are sensitive to the weight of a person near ridge tops. Recent storm snow may sluff in steep terrain, especially with a touch of sun. The lower snowpack is reportedly well settled. The early December weak layer (about 80-150 cm down) is spotty in distribution, but where it does exist still gives hard, sudden results, meaning it is unlikely to be triggered, but could produce a very large avalanche.
Problems
Loose Dry
Loose Dry avalanches are the release of dry unconsolidated snow and typically occur within layers of soft snow near the surface of the snowpack. These avalanches start at a point and entrain snow as they move downhill, forming a fan-shaped avalanche. Other names for loose-dry avalanches include point-release avalanches or sluffs.
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.