North Rockies

A bit of new snow and shifting winds may hide recently touchy wind slabs on north through west aspects. Use your day to hunt sheltered powder and skip the gymnastics of dodging slabs.

Wind slabs formed with 20 cm of new snow were touchy to human triggering on north through west aspects in the alpine on Tuesday in the MacGregors, producing releases to size 2.

During the storm on the weekend, a widespread natural avalanche cycle occurred, with wind slabs to size 3.5 on north to east aspects at upper elevations and loose wet up to size 2 below treeline.

Light forecast snowfall will add to 10-20 cm of dry snow that has formed new wind slabs (touchy in the MacGregors on Tuesday) overlying a heavily wind-affected upper snowpack and, below 1600 m, a rain crust.

A crust buried in February exists at variable depths, generally 100 to 160 cm deep. For the most part, it is well bonded to the surrounding snow but in isolated, wind-sheltered areas, weak surface hoar crystals may sit atop this crust.

The remainder of the snowpack is well consolidated with no other significant layers of concern.

Wednesday Night
Mostly cloudy with isolated flurries. 20 to 40 km/h southwest ridgetop wind shifting east and easing. Treeline temperature -10 °C.

Thursday
Mostly cloudy with scattered flurries bringing 3 to 5 cm of new snow. 20 to 30 km/h east ridgetop wind shifting west. Treeline temperature -13 °C.

Friday
A mix of sun and cloud with scattered flurries bringing less than 5 cm of new snow. 20 km/h west ridgetop wind, easing. Treeline temperature -11 °C.

Saturday
Mainly sunny with possible isolated flurries. 20 to 30 km/h west ridgetop wind, increasing. Treeline temperature -11 °C.

More details can be found in the Mountain Weather Forecast.

• Be alert to conditions that change with elevation, aspect, and exposure to wind.
• Seek out sheltered terrain where new snow hasn't been affected by wind.
• Be careful with wind-loaded pockets, especially near ridge crests and rollovers.