Regions
Northwest Inland.
Winds will ease a bit on Wednesday, but recently formed wind slabs at higher elevations may remain reactive to human triggering. Sheltered lower elevations are likely to still hold the best skiing and riding conditions.
Confidence
Moderate - Due to the number of field observations
Weather Forecast
Tuesday night: Clear periods with increasing cloud. Light variable winds. Wednesday: Cloudy with sunny periods. Light northwest winds. Alpine high temperatures around -12.Thursday: Mainly cloudy with isolated flurries and a trace of new snow. Light to moderate east winds. Alpine high temperatures around -16.Friday: Mainly cloudy with isolated flurries and a trace of new snow. Light northeast winds. Alpine high temperatures around -21.
Avalanche Summary
Winds have been driving avalanche danger at higher elevations, redistributing recent snow accumulations into reactive wind slabs. Skiers reported small natural wind slab releases, whumpfing, and shooting cracks on Thursday and Friday. A small (size 1) ski cut wind slab at 2100 metres was reported on Sunday.
Snowpack Summary
In the alpine and upper treeline, the upper snowpack is composed of successive layers of aging, wind-affected storm snow layers. The most recent wind slabs are likely to exist on on southwest aspects as a result of ongoing, predominantly northeast winds. The upper snowpack has also been faceting (becoming sugary) under the influence of recent cold temperatures at all elevations.Sheltered areas at lower elevations still hold around 20-30 cm of low density snow from a couple of recent snowfall events. Below this more recent snow, another 20-40 cm of older, faceted (sugary) storm snow overlies a widespread melt-freeze crust. In the central and northern parts of the region, it may sit on feathery surface hoar crystals in sheltered terrain at all elevations. In the south of the region, the remainder of the snowpack has been reported as well-settled.Around and north of Hazelton, 50 to 100 cm of snow may overlie two weak layers of surface hoar or sugary faceted grains.
Problems
Wind Slabs
Wind Slab avalanches are the release of a cohesive layer of snow (a slab) formed by the wind. Wind typically transports snow from the upwind sides of terrain features and deposits snow on the downwind side. Wind slabs are often smooth and rounded and sometimes sound hollow, and can range from soft to hard. Wind 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.