Sunny skies and fresh snow will be very tempting; however, give the new snow at least a couple days to settle and strengthen before pushing out into steeper, challenging terrain.
Weather Forecast
Synopsis: A ridge of high pressure and northwesterly flow should result in drier and cooler weather for the next couple days. A weak system could affect the South Coast on Saturday bringing light snow. Thursday: Clearing throughout the day. Light northerly winds. Treeline temperatures are around -6.Friday: Mostly sunny. Light northerly winds. Treeline temperatures around -7.Saturday: A chance of flurries or snow. The freezing level remains at valley bottom.
Avalanche Summary
Numerous loose snow and slab avalanches up to size 2 were reported throughout the region on Tuesday. Most observed slabs were 15-20 cm deep, but were probably significantly deeper by Wednesday morning. Slabs will likely remain susceptible to human triggering over the next couple days.
Snowpack Summary
Up to 60 cm of snow has fallen in the past 2 days. This new snow was initially bonding very poorly to the previous snow surface, which includes large surface hoar, facets, old hard wind slabs, or a sun crust. It is likely that a slab has formed as temperatures rose on Tuesday night and winds increased. No significant weaknesses have been reported recently below this in the mid snowpack layers. Near the base of the snowpack, a crust/facet layer exists, which is now unlikely to be triggered, except perhaps by heavy triggers in steep, shallow, rocky terrain where more facetting has taken place.
Problems
Storm Slabs
Storm Slab avalanches are the release of a cohesive layer (a slab) of new snow that breaks within new snow or on the old snow surface. Storm-slabs typically last between a few hours and few days (following snowfall). Storm-slabs that form over a persistent weak layer (surface hoar, depth hoar, or near-surface facets) may be termed Persistent Slabs or may develop into Persistent Slabs.