Benign weather this week. Watch for isolated wind slabs and shallow snowpack areas where triggering a deep persistent slab avalanche remains possible.
Summary
Confidence
Moderate - Due to the number of field observations
Weather Forecast
MONDAY: Isolated flurries with trace accumulations, light south winds, alpine temperatures around -8 C.TUESDAY: Cloudy with sunny periods, light northwest winds, alpine temperatures around -10 C.MONDAY: Mix of sun and cloud, light northwest winds, alpine temperatures around -12 C.
Avalanche Summary
On Saturday, numerous small natural wind slabs (size 1-1.5) were reported on northwest aspects around treeline. Small loose dry avalanches running above the rain crust were reported in steep terrain. Watch for isolated pockets where thicker wind slabs could produce larger avalanches. Also keep in mind that a basal weakness continues to drive a low probability/high consequence avalanche problem for the region. Very large avalanches remain possible, especially in shallow snowpack areas.
Snowpack Summary
Clear cold weather and shifting winds have created a variety of surface conditions including isolated wind slabs, pockets of soft snow (5-10 cm deep), sun crusts, and surface hoar. A supportive rain crust exists below 1000 m. A layer of surface hoar that was buried on February 10th may exist 30-60 cm below the surface, but there's a fair bit of uncertainty regarding the reactivity and distribution of this layer. A stiff mid pack sits above weak sugary snow near the ground. Although possibly dormant, this basal weakness has the potential to produce very large destructive avalanches.
shorton,
Avalanche Canada
