Forecast snowfall amounts for Thursday may vary greatly due to the convective nature of the weather system passing through.
Summary
Confidence
Low - Due to the number of field observations
Weather Forecast
THURSDAY: Cloudy with flurries, accumulation 5-10cm / Light to moderate west wind / Alpine temperature -1 / Freezing level 1700mFRIDAY: Mix of sun and cloud / Light southwest wind / Alpine temperature 0 / Freezing level 1800mSATURDAY: Cloudy with sunny periods / Light to moderate south wind / Alpine temperature 2 / Freezing level 2000mNOTE: Convective flurries, which are common this time of year, can result in widely varying snowfall amounts. These spring squalls routinely drop 20+ cm of snow in one valley while the adjacent drainage remains dry. For this reason, the distribution of avalanche problems associated with new snow vary greatly within a region.
Avalanche Summary
Reports from Tuesday indicate numerous loose wet avalanches to size 2 from a variety of aspects in the alpine and at tree line. Exposure to large overhanging cornices remains a significant concern.
Snowpack Summary
Recent new snow tree line and above has been redistributed by west and south winds. Cornices remain large and continue to become more overhanging. The middle of the snowpack is generally well settled and continues to transition into a spring melt/freeze regime except for high elevation northerly aspects. Expect the entire thickness of the snowpack to be moist or wet at lower elevations. At upper elevations a deep persistent layer consisting of facets sitting on a crust that was buried back in November has been sporadically reactive to heavy loads i.e. a cornice fall or the weight of a smaller avalanche running.
mbender,
Avalanche Canada
