Snow is in the forecast for Wednesday. Look for changing conditions as the week progresses.
Weather Forecast
Depending on which forecast model you choose to believe we could see upwards of 20cm of storm snow by Thursday morning. The first 5cm should come tonight and end mid day Tuesday with a second pulse starting late Tuesday night and through the day Wednesday. This should be accompanied by light S-SW winds.
Snowpack Summary
The January 4th surface hoar layer resides in the top 20-30cm of snow which consists of weak facets. On steeper S-SW aspects a breakable suncrust can be found under the 5cm of low density snow from the last few days. Below the surface weak layer is a well settled supportive snowpack.
Avalanche Summary
Three slides were observed off of the steep north facing terrain of Mt MacDonald yesterday. These slides were up to size 2. Sluffing of the weak recrystallized surface snow out of very steep terrain continued yesterday as well. Sluffing was more pronounced on steep solar facing terrain.
Confidence
Forecast snowfall amounts are uncertain
Problems
Loose Dry
Loose Dry avalanches are the release of dry unconsolidated snow and typically occur within layers of soft snow near the surface of the snowpack. These avalanches start at a point and entrain snow as they move downhill, forming a fan-shaped avalanche. Other names for loose-dry avalanches include point-release avalanches or sluffs.