In the west of the region where recent accumulations were the greatest, new wind slabs are expected to be deeper and more reactive
Summary
Confidence
Moderate - Due to the number of field observations
Weather Forecast
On Friday expect 5-10cm on new snow, strong southerly winds and freezing levels at about 800m. On Saturday, the region will see another 5cm of new snow with mainly overcast skies forecast for Sunday. Winds for the weekend will be mainly light from the north while freezing levels hover around 500m.
Avalanche Summary
There are very few recent observations from the region. Light to locally moderate amounts of new snow and extreme southwest winds likely sparked a new round of wind slab activity. Recent rain may have also promoted loose wet avalanche activity at treeline and below.
Snowpack Summary
Since Monday night generally light amounts of new snow fell in the mountains around Smithers while closer to 40 cm fell in areas further west. Strong to extreme winds have likely redistributed much of this new snow into reactive wind slabs at higher elevations while surfaces at treeline and below are likely now moist or refrozen due to rising freezing levels during the system. There is a notable persistent weakness of buried surface hoar in many places, generally found between 30 and 80 cm deep. Wind and milder temperatures may have helped to promote slab development in the snow overlying this interface. In other areas, rain may have destroyed the layer. Stay tuned to signs of instability like recent avalanches, whumpfing, and shooting cracks. The mid pack that was reported to be well settled may have now facetted in the shallower areas, and the deeper basal layers are almost certainly facetted and weak.
jlammers,
Avalanche Canada
