Regions
Northwest Inland.
Confidence
Fair - Due to limited field observations for the entire period
Weather Forecast
Overnight and Wednesday: Cool, sunny and dry with light Southeast winds. Freezing level rising to about 600 metres during the day.Thursday: Continued cool and dry with overnight lows down to about -6.0 and daytime freezing levels rising to about 600 metres. Light Southwest winds are expected during the day.Friday: More dry sunny weather is expected.
Avalanche Summary
No new avalanches have been reported from the region.
Snowpack Summary
The West of the region is reporting new surface hoar growth from 5-15 mm. The recent storm snow continues to settle and has been covered by a dusting of new snow in areas that received some convective snow showers. Foot penetration has been reported to be about 40 cms in the deeper snowpack areas of the region. The East parts of the region have reported a shallow weak snowpack with areas of basal facets. Strong southwest winds have formed touchy wind slabs in exposed terrain in the lee of ridges, gully side walls, and behind terrain features. There are a variety of old interfaces now down 60 - 100cm which include facets, crusts and isolated pockets of surface hoar.
Problems
Wind Slabs
Wind Slab avalanches are the release of a cohesive layer of snow (a slab) formed by the wind. Wind typically transports snow from the upwind sides of terrain features and deposits snow on the downwind side. Wind slabs are often smooth and rounded and sometimes sound hollow, and can range from soft to hard. Wind 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.