Regions
Kootenay Boundary.
Snowfall Saturday accumulated at upper elevations. Use caution around ridge crests and lee terrain features, where deposits will be most reactive.
Weather Forecast
SATURDAY NIGHT: Flurries continuing into the evening, up to 10 cm snow / west wind, 20-40 km/h / alpine low -6 C / freezing level 700 mSUNDAY: Mix of sun and cloud with flurries, trace to 5 cm accumulation / west wind, 20-40 km/h / alpine high -5 C / freezing level 1600 mMONDAY: Mix of sun and cloud and isolated flurries / southwest wind, 10-20 km/h / alpine high -2 C / freezing level 1600 mTUESDAY: Clear with cloudy periods / southwest wind, 10-25 km/h / alpine high +1 C / freezing level 2000 m
Avalanche Summary
On Wednesday, wind slabs in lee features were reactive to explosives.On Tuesday, wind and storm slabs up to size 1 were reactive to skier traffic on sun affected slopes in the alpine.
Snowpack Summary
Up to 15 cm new snow covers a melt-freeze crust on most aspects except for north facing slopes above 2000 m, where new snow overlies dry, settled snow. At these sheltered upper elevations, the recent 10-35 cm snow over the past week is bonding well to the underlying layers.Below treeline snow is disappearing rapidly.
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.