In your local area: Be wary of any slopes which are being warmed by direct sun, as this may weaken existing slabs and could cause natural avalanches.
Weather Forecast
Tuesday: Mainly sunny with valley cloud. Light southerly winds. Freezing level around 600m. Wednesday/Thursday: Cloud and flurries. Light south-west winds. Temperatures remaining cool, except where sunny breaks are occurring and some local solar warming could occur.
Avalanche Summary
An avalanche cycle which began on Wednesday has slowed slightly with time, but conditions remain touchy with natural, human and remotely-triggered avalanches in the size 1.5-3 range reported most days. These are running on storm snow weaknesses or on buried weak layers in the upper snowpack. As snowfall and wind-loading ease over the next few days, expect natural avalanches to decrease, but tricky and touchy conditions for human-triggering to continue.
Snowpack Summary
Deep wind slabs exist on many aspects. Storm snow totals range from about 60-140cm above the Feb 16. surface hoar layer and the early Feb. surface hoar/ crust. The early Feb. surface hoar layer is widespread in some areas, while in others it's confined to shady aspects at treeline and in the alpine. A buried melt-freeze crust can be found on solar aspects at all elevations, and on all aspects below about 1600m. Snowpack tests on upper snowpack layers generally give easy to moderate "pops or drops" results. Ongoing remote and natural triggering further indicates the touchy nature of these weaknesses. Large cornices exist, which could trigger large avalanches on the Jan. 20th facet layer if they fall. Shallow snowpack areas may still harbour basal facets.
Problems
Persistent Slabs
Persistent Slab avalanches are the release of a cohesive layer of snow (a slab) in the middle to upper snowpack, when the bond to an underlying persistent weak layer breaks. Persistent layers include: surface hoar, depth hoar, near-surface facets, or faceted snow. Persistent weak layers can continue to produce avalanches for days, weeks or even months, making them especially dangerous and tricky. As additional snow and wind events build a thicker slab on top of the persistent weak layer, this avalanche problem may develop into a Deep Persistent Slab.
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.