Vancouver Island

Stormy conditions continue Tuesday night, which will likely form new wind slabs. Dial back your terrain choices if you find more than 20 cm of new snow.

Riders reported a few small (size 1) wind slabs in steep treeline northerly terrain on Monday.

Looking forward, expect wind slabs to be touchy to human traffic in wind exposed terrain as strong wind and new snow continue to form new slabs.

Storm snow continues to accumulate, building on the 20 to 40 cm of snow that accumulated up until Tuesday afternoon. Strong southwest wind is blowing the snow into wind slabs in lee terrain features. All of this snow overlies previously wind affected snow at higher elevations and a hard melt-freeze crust on sun-exposed slopes. Reports suggest the snow is bonding well to these surfaces.

The middle and lower snowpack are well consolidated, containing numerous thick and hard melt-freeze crusts. We continue to track these layers but recent snowpack test results suggest that they aren't a concern.

Tuesday Night

Cloudy with snowfall then clearing, accumulation 10 to 15 cm with enhancements possible near the west coast, 40 to 50 km/h southwest wind, treeline temperature -4 °C.

Wednesday

Partly cloudy with afternoon clouds and light snowfall, accumulation 1 to 3 cm, 20 to 30 km/h west wind, treeline temperature -2 °C, freezing level 900 m.

Partly cloudy with no precipitation, 10 km/h southeast wind, treeline temperature 0 °C, freezing level rising to 1200 m.

Clear skies with no precipitation, 10 to 20 km/h southeast wind, treeline temperature 2 °C, freezing level 1500 m.

More details can be found in the Mountain Weather Forecast.

• Watch for newly formed and reactive wind slabs as you transition into wind affected terrain.
• Wind slabs are most reactive during their formation.
• Dial back your terrain choices if you are seeing more than 20 cm of new snow.