Regions
Kootenay Boundary.
Watch for changing conditions at higher elevations as new wind slabs form.
Confidence
High - The weather pattern is stable
Weather Forecast
MONDAY: Cloudy, moderate west winds, alpine temperatures around -8 C.TUESDAY: Cloudy with isolated flurries and 2-4 cm of new snow, light winds, alpine temperatures around -10 C.WEDNESDAY: Sunny, light northeast winds, alpine temperatures around -14 C.
Avalanche Summary
No recent avalanches have been reported. With moderate to strong winds transporting snow in exposed terrain, expect fresh wind slabs on lee and crossloaded features.
Snowpack Summary
A variety of surface conditions exist including wind affected snow, sun crusts, shallowly buried surface hoar, and pockets of light snow. A total of 30-50 cm of settled storm snow now sits above a weak interface that was buried in mid-January. The interface is composed of weak facets, surface hoar, and/or sun crusts. The strength of this interface is variable, but has continued to give some sudden results and propagations in snowpack tests. Areas with thin snowpacks (e.g. less than 150 cm) have a generally weak snowpack structure with sugary facets near the ground. This includes shallow alpine slopes and most of the Rossland range. These deeper weaknesses warrant long term monitoring, as they could reawaken with a sudden change in the weather.
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.