The cold temperatures will continue to persist through Saturday, be prepared to stay warm in an emergency. Many early-season hazards are still lurking just below the surface.
Recent snow and wind loading has created slabs over a persistent weak layer of facets, buried sun crusts, or isolated pockets of surface hoar. This slab has been sensitive to natural and human triggering.
This is a forecasted problem due to the faceting of the upper snowpack and increased winds expected Friday afternoon. With such a weak upper snowpack, wind transport can easily initiate dry loose avalanche activity in extreme terrain.
Sunshine Ski patrol reported a few small size 1 slab avalanches that release from a steep treeline feature outside of the ski area boundary.
A fracture line profile was done Thursday on a skier-triggered avalanche in the Lake Louise backcountry. See MIN report
20-40cm of recent snow redistributed by upper elevation winds has now settled into a slab overlying a weak layer of facets, surface hoar, or sun crust on steep south aspects. 40-80 cm of total snow exists at treeline throughout the region, with up to 120 cm in loaded alpine features.
The surface ridge will persist over the Rockies, however, an upper disturbance passing to the southwest of Alberta will continue to bring cloud and scattered flurries to the Rockies. Expect higher snowfall amounts on the West slopes of the Rockies, with up to 5cm of accumulation in the Little Yoho area. Winds are expected to increase through the day Friday.
More details can be found in the Mountain Weather Forecast.
