Summary
Confidence
Fair - Track of incoming weather is uncertain
Weather Forecast
Saturday night and Sunday: Winds will pick up as the next system is moving in but precipitation will not be as much as forecasted yesterday. Expect just light precipitation starting late during the day with moderate winds from the W. Freezing levels should still rise to 1300 m. but solar radiation will be much less than Saturday.Monday: Light precipitation amounts are expected with overcast skies, light W winds and slightly cooler temperatures and lower freezing levels. Tuesday: Timing and track of the next system is still uncertain, but there is a potential for a fairly active system that could deliver interesting amounts of precipitation.
Avalanche Summary
There was several reports of natural and skier triggered loose wet avalanches size 1-1.5 running on the underlying crust on E and S aspects and sluffing on N facing slopes.
Snowpack Summary
Recent windslabs have formed on lee features with W and E winds in the alpine and below ridgetops at treeline. Windslabs will continue building tomorrow with forecasted W winds. These will be susceptible to sledder and skier triggering. The recent snow from earlier this week is sitting on an older snow interface above 2000 m. and on a melt freeze crust below that elevation. In much of the region, up to 80 cm snow overlies a surface hoar and sun crust which is becoming less reactive to skier traffic but that is still a concern to professionals. At the surface of the snow, expect to find a new suncrust on SE-S-SW facing slopes at all elevations (especially on steep slopes), a melt-freeze crust all the way up to 2000 m. and possibly some surface hoar on shaded slopes above that elevation.
slemieux,
Avalanche Canada
