New wind slabs will develop overnight in the alpine and at treeline, and below freezing temperatures should build a supportive crust down to valley bottoms.
Summary
Confidence
Moderate - Timing, track, or intensity of incoming weather system is uncertain
Weather Forecast
3-5 cm of snow overnight above 600 metres with moderate southwest winds. Saturday should be the coolest day in the forecast period with freezing levels dropping to valley bottoms overnight and then rising to about 1000 metres during the day with 5-10 cm of snow and strong southwest winds. On Sunday the warm air moves in again with freezing levels rising up to about 1200 metres combined with strong southwest winds and 5-8 cm of snow in the alpine. Monday is expected to be the warmest and wettest day, precipitation amounts have dropped over the last few model runs, but expect 10-15 mm with strong winds and high freezing levels.
Avalanche Summary
No new avalanche observations. Deep persistent slab avalanches have been reported releasing naturally up to size 3.5 in the north of the Northwest Coastal region near the boundary of the Northwest Inland region in the Bell-Irving area.
Snowpack Summary
New wind slabs are developing in the lee of of southwest winds in the alpine and at treeline. Storm snow from last week has settled due to recent warm temperatures. There may be a buried layer of surface hoar in the top 30 cm of the snowpack from early February, this layer was found at Hankin, but has not been widely reported. Crusts may be developing at mid-elevations as the freezing level slowly descends. The early January persistent weak layer of buried surface hoar is down 50-80 cm in most of the region, but may be down a metre or more in the deeper snowpack areas in the southwest of the region. Shallow snowpack areas in the east and north of the region may have a weak base layer of facetted snow on or just above the ground.
triley,
Avalanche Canada
