Regions
Kootenay Boundary.
Saturday looks like another warm day in the alpine, so continue to avoid being on or underneath terrain that's basking in the sun. Watch for small wind slabs lurking on all aspects immediately lee of ridge crest.
Confidence
Moderate - The weather pattern is stable
Weather Forecast
There is a big atmospheric shift going on right now. We seem to be moving away from the nice active pattern into more of a classical El Nino pattern. There is a small blip of a storm that may impact the Coast Monday, but it looks high and dry for the extended future. SATURDAY: Freezing level at valley bottom, above freezing temperatures between 1800 m and 2800 m, light SW wind, no precipitation. SUNDAY: Freezing level at valley bottom, light SE wind, no precipitation. MONDAY: Freezing level at valley bottom, light SE wind, no precipitation.
Avalanche Summary
On Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday activity has been limited to small loose snow avalanches running in the upper snowpack. There is probably more of this activity on solar aspects than the more shady north and east aspects.
Snowpack Summary
Warm temperatures are helping all the recent storm snow to settle and bond to the existing snowpack. Previous to the warming, storm slabs up to 40cm in depth were touchy in the southern Monashees around Big White. Across the region, 5 to 25 cm of rapidly settling snow rests on a variety of weak layers including small grain facets, surface hoar up to 14 mm in size and a sun crust on steep south and southwest facing features. Underneath this you'll find 40 to 60 cm of old storm snow that should be settling too. Under this old storm snow the mid-December crust can be found. This interface was never problematic, but in Kootenay Pass there is a spotty surface hoar layer on or just above this crust that is most prevalent on north facing features between 1800 and 2000 m. At treeline the early December crust is down around 70 to 130 cm. This thick and supportive crust is likely capping any deeper weaknesses in most places. There have been reports of facets on this crust in the Nelson area, so we'll want to keep our eye on it as we move into early 2016. The lower snowpack is thought to be well settled.
Problems
Loose Wet
Loose Wet avalanches are the release of wet unconsolidated snow or slush. These avalanches typically occur within layers of wet snow near the surface of the snowpack, but they may quickly gouge into lower snowpack layers. Like Loose Dry Avalanches, they start at a point and entrain snow as they move downhill, forming a fan-shaped avalanche. Other names for loose-wet avalanches include point-release avalanches or sluffs. Loose Wet avalanches can trigger slab avalanches that break into deeper snow layers.
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.