The warm, wet, windy storm continues. Backcountry ski conditions are reported to be terrible and avalanche hazard remains elevated. Now is a good time for indoor activities or take your rain gear with you to your local ski hill.
Confidence
Fair - Timing, track, or intensity of incoming weather system is uncertain
Weather Forecast
The storm system continues to bring warm, wet conditions to the interior for Wednesday and Thursday. The south of the Cariboos region can expect another 10-20mm on Wednesday and 10-20mm for Thursday. Freezing levels on both days are expected to be 2200-2500m. Alpine winds should remain strong-extreme but might start to taper off late-Thursday. On a positive note, things should start to change on Friday. Freezing levels should drop, winds should ease, and we may see new snow at higher elevations.
Avalanche Summary
We haven't received any observations since the storm started. The conditions are very similar in the North Columbia region where natural activity up to size 2.5. See the North Columbia bulletin for more details.
Snowpack Summary
The storm snow is expected to be wet up to around 2000 m and moist up to around 2400 m. Below the old storm snow (15-30cm) is a weak layer of surface hoar. Reports from the region suggest that anywhere from 50-150 cm of settling snow overlies one or more weak layers which formed during November. Snowpack tests suggest that these weak layers are getting harder to trigger but still have the potential to produce large avalanches if triggered. Recent wind has created wind slabs in lee features in exposed alpine terrain.
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.
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.
Loose Wet
Loose Wet avalanches are the release of wet unconsolidated snow or slush. These avalanches typically occur within layers of wet snow near the surface of the snowpack, but they may quickly gouge into lower snowpack layers. Like Loose Dry Avalanches, they start at a point and entrain snow as they move downhill, forming a fan-shaped avalanche. Other names for loose-wet avalanches include point-release avalanches or sluffs. Loose Wet avalanches can trigger slab avalanches that break into deeper snow layers.