Watch for wind slabs forming over the day as southerly winds increase. Small avalanches may step down to deeper weak layers in the snowpack.
Stay cautious of areas where the snowpack depth changes rapidly, such as thin and rocky start zones.
Low density snow on the surface is available for southerly winds to redistribute into pockets of wind slab in north facing terrain.
Small avalanches in wind loaded features have the potential to step down to deeper weak layers creating larger then expected avalanches.
The mid and lower snowpack is generally weak, facetted and contains multiple buried weak layers. A layer of crust, facets and/or surface hoar buried 30-60 cm deep continues to produce test results that indicate reactivity.
Avalanches may be larger than you expect due to the depth of buried weak layers.
No recent avalanche activity has been reported in the region. However, there have been a number of reports of spooky stability test results recently.
Please continue to share any observations or photos on the Mountain Information Network.
Roughly 30 to 60 cm of low-density snow overlies a generally weak, facetted snowpack with multiple buried weak layers. As southerly winds increase expect wind slabs to build in north facing terrain. New wind slabs may sit over a layer of reactive surface hoar and or crust.
Two layers of concern exist in this snowpack. A layer of facets, crust and surface hoar was buried around Christmas, around 30 to 60cm from the surface. And a layer of large, weak facets near the bottom of the snowpack, buried in November.
Snowpack depths are roughly 100 to 175 cm at treeline.
Wednesday Night
Clear skies with no snowfall expected. Winds remain light from the south. Freezing level below valley bottom.
Thursday
Cloud increasing over the day. Moderate to strong southwest winds. No snowfall expected. Alpine highs around -5 °C. An above freezing layer around 2000 m is expected in far eastern terrain such as Kakwa.
Friday
Cloudy with flurries delivers up to 2 cm. Moderate to strong southwest winds. Freezing levels rise to 1500m. Alpine high of -2°C.
Saturday
A mix of sun and cloud with moderate southwest winds. Freezing levels rise to 1000 m over the day. No snowfall expected.
More details can be found in the Mountain Weather Forecast.
