Regions
Northwest Inland.
Widespread windslabs continue to form at treeline and alpine elevations.
Confidence
Moderate - Timing, track, or intensity of incoming weather system is uncertain
Weather Forecast
Another storm is arriving in the region mid-day Monday and should be winding down Tuesday morning. It should deliver up to another 10cm of snow to most parts of the region; however, favoured areas in the north and west could see closer to 30 cm! The bad news is all that snow will have come with strong SW windsTUESDAY: Continued moderate to strong westerly winds. Snow tapering off to flurries or even a mix of sun and cloud (aka dry).WEDNESDAY & THURSDAY: Lots of uncertainty in the forecast. There will be a Low somewhere around Haida Gwaii, and it's likely that'll spin the wind around to the southeast and eventually the east. It's pretty likely the weather will dry out with little precipitation outside of localized convective showers. Check back for updates and ...
Avalanche Summary
Poor weather has limited the opportunity for avalanche observations. It's likely that continued snow and wind loading at treeline and alpine elevations has primed conditions for human-triggering or natural avalanches.
Snowpack Summary
Light snow and strong winds continue to create wind slabs in open terrain at alpine and treeline elevations. These cover old hard wind slabs and scoured surfaces in many exposed areas. In wind-sheltered terrain, sun crusts or dry facets sit below the recent storm snow.Around 50-150 cm down, you will find a crust/surface hoar layer from mid-January, which still has the chance to surprise you and could be triggered from a thin snowpack spot, or with a large trigger like cornice fall.Facets at the base of the snowpack could possibly be triggered from shallow snowpack areas.
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.
Persistent Slabs
Persistent Slab avalanches are the release of a cohesive layer of snow (a slab) in the middle to upper snowpack, when the bond to an underlying persistent weak layer breaks. Persistent layers include: surface hoar, depth hoar, near-surface facets, or faceted snow. Persistent weak layers can continue to produce avalanches for days, weeks or even months, making them especially dangerous and tricky. As additional snow and wind events build a thicker slab on top of the persistent weak layer, this avalanche problem may develop into a Deep Persistent Slab.