Regions
Kootenay Boundary.
We could see a dusting of snow on Friday. Not enough to raise avalanche danger, but maybe it will improve snow quality a little.
Confidence
Good - The weather pattern is stable
Weather Forecast
A weak trough of low pressure will bring some cloud and a chance of flurries on Friday. Generally we’re looking at 2-5 cm with a snow line between valley bottom and 800 m. The ridge of high pressure rebuilds for the weekend resulting in mainly sunny skies. The freezing level is around 600-1000 m on Saturday and little over 1000 m on Sunday. Winds are generally light or moderate from the NW-NE.
Avalanche Summary
No new avalanche activity was reported on Tuesday or Wednesday.
Snowpack Summary
The most prominent feature in the snowpack is the thick upper crust. This crust is supportive all the way to ridge crest and is effectively "capping" the snowpack, keeping riders from tickling any deeper weak layers. Surface hoar on this crust is a widespread phenomenon. On solar aspects the proud crust is on the surface (softening during the day), and on shadier aspects there may be 5 - 20 cm of settled storm snow on it. There are still weak layers in the snowpack that we'll continue to monitor, but for now these layers are dormant. We would likely need significant warming to re-activate them.
Problems
Persistent Slabs
Persistent Slab avalanches are the release of a cohesive layer of snow (a slab) in the middle to upper snowpack, when the bond to an underlying persistent weak layer breaks. Persistent layers include: surface hoar, depth hoar, near-surface facets, or faceted snow. Persistent weak layers can continue to produce avalanches for days, weeks or even months, making them especially dangerous and tricky. As additional snow and wind events build a thicker slab on top of the persistent weak layer, this avalanche problem may develop into a Deep Persistent Slab.