Regions
Banff Yoho Kootenay.
Touchy conditions persist. Be vigilant when making terrain and snowpack decisions and consider the potential consequences until things improve, and this could be quite a few days.
Weather Forecast
Up to 14mm of precip is expected to fall over the forecast region between Wednesday night and Friday. Freezing levels will remain well below surface and the wind will ease off to light at 3000m on Friday. This moderate weather input will not affect the danger rating to a large degree.
Snowpack Summary
15cm of new snow overnight which seems to be bonding well with the previous surfaces. The Feb.10th facet layer is down 80-120cm and is still showing easy to moderate test results in thinner snowpack areas, and harder results in deeper snowpack areas. Areas with buried sun crust are especially touchy.
Avalanche Summary
No avalanches were observed or reported today.
Confidence
Track of incoming weather systems is uncertain on Wednesday
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.
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.