Regions
Northwest Coastal.
Confidence
Fair - Due to limited field observations for the entire period
Weather Forecast
Wednesday and Thursday: Mostly clear with isolated flurries possible. Freezing levels down to seal level and light to moderate northerly winds. Friday: Mostly cloudy with light snow flurries throughout the day, freezing levels at sea level and light westerly winds.
Avalanche Summary
Recent reports are limited, but include minor natural and ski-cut sluffing as well as a couple of Size 1, 10cm deep ski-cut wind slab avalanches.
Snowpack Summary
Another 15-20cm has added to the 40-90cm of storm snow in the past 10 days or so. Weaknesses exist within and under this recent storm snow including touchy surface hoar and/or facets from the end of December under it all. Recent strong southwesterly to easterly winds have set up wind slabs in many exposed lee areas. A deeper surface hoar layer was buried at the beginning of December and is now down well over a metre, but there are no recent reports of activity on this layer. Near the base of the snowpack, a crust/facet layer continues to concern local avalanche professionals. This weakness is unlikely to be triggered by a single person, but it remains possible with a very heavy load (e.g. cornice fall) or from a thin-spot trigger point.
Problems
Storm Slabs
Storm Slab avalanches are the release of a cohesive layer (a slab) of new snow that breaks within new snow or on the old snow surface. Storm-slabs typically last between a few hours and few days (following snowfall). Storm-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.