New snow is falling at higher elevations at this time and strong SW winds are creating fresh storm slabs. Temperature are forecast to cool overnight and throughout Sunday. Ski conditions still remain quite rugged.
Confidence
Fair - Freezing levels are uncertain on Sunday
Weather Forecast
Freezing levels are forecast to begin to drop tonight as the main bulk of the precipitation passes over us. Winds are expected to ease into the light range as the front passes. We may see another 8cm of snow fall overnight giving us an expected storm snow total of 15cm.
Avalanche Summary
Only a few loose wet slides were observed on Saturday. Conditions were obscured for most of the day.
Snowpack Summary
Up to 7cm of snow fell throughout the day on Saturday with moderate westerly winds at treeline and above. New thin storm slabs are building on north and east aspects. These new slabs are overlying a variety of different snow surfaces depending on aspect at elevation. In the Alpine, they are overlying temperature crusts on all aspects except for true north. At treeline they are overlying widespread temperature crusts. Below this elevation most of the recent precipitation fell as rain. In many areas down low, the snowpack is isothermal.
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.
Deep Persistent Slabs
Deep Persistent Slab avalanches are the release of a thick cohesive layer of hard snow (a slab), when the bond breaks between the slab and an underlying persistent weak layer deep in the snowpack. The most common persistent weak layers involved in deep, persistent slabs are depth hoar or facets surrounding a deeply buried crust. Deep Persistent Slabs are typically hard to trigger, are very destructive and dangerous due to the large mass of snow involved, and can persist for months once developed. They are often triggered from areas where the snow is shallow and weak, and are particularly difficult to forecast for and manage.