Natural avalanches unlikely, human triggered possible.
Treeline
Natural avalanches unlikely, human triggered possible.
Below Treeline
Natural avalanches unlikely.
Alpine
Natural avalanches unlikely, human triggered possible.
Treeline
Natural avalanches unlikely, human triggered possible.
Below Treeline
Natural avalanches unlikely.
Alpine
Natural avalanches unlikely.
Treeline
Natural avalanches unlikely, human triggered possible.
Below Treeline
Natural avalanches unlikely.
Regions
South Coast Inland.
Continue to think about and observe for signs of the lingering weak layer buried in our snowpack.
Confidence
High -
Weather Forecast
SATURDAY NIGHT: Partly cloudy, freezing level dropping to 1500 m.SUNDAY: Mostly clear skies, moderate northwest winds, alpine temperature near -2 C, freezing level 1400 m.MONDAY: Increasing clouds over the day, light northwest winds, alpine temperature -3 C, freezing level below valley bottom.TUESDAY: Mostly clear skies, light northwest winds, alpine temperature -1 C, freezing level below valley bottom with inversion conditions possible.
Avalanche Summary
On Friday, One small slab avalanche was triggered by a skier on the surface hoar described in the Snowpack Summary was triggered by a skier. Otherwise, small loose wet avalanches were observed. Check out the following MIN reports for other recent reports of avalanches on the surface hoar: here and here.
Snowpack Summary
On the snow surface, you will likely find a sun crust on south aspects but still dry snow on northerly aspects. Beneath this, around 30 to 60 cm of snow sits on a sun crust on southerly aspects, a temperature crust below around 1700 m on all aspects, and feathery surface hoar in areas sheltered by the wind at all elevation bands. The surface hoar may be most pronounced on west, north, and east aspects below 2100 m.Below this, the snowpack is generally well-settled. In certain parts of the region, you may still find a weak layer of surface hoar buried about 60 to 120 cm in sheltered areas around treeline. There haven't been any recent avalanches on this layer but the likelihood of triggering it may increase this weekend with warm air temperatures.
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.