Though stability is improving, human triggering of storm slabs should remain on your radar!
Though stability is improving, human triggering of storm slabs should remain on your radar. Some places where it may be possible to trigger a storm slab include unsupported convex roll-overs, wind deposits or where recent snow sits over a crust.
Test the bond of new snow on smaller terrain features with low consequences as you travel through various elevation bands and aspects.
Sunday night: Clear. Light to moderate westerly wind. Alpine temperature around -10 °C. Freezing level valley bottom.
Monday: Partly cloudy. Light to moderate westerly ridgetop wind. Alpine high -3 °C. Freezing level rising to 1500 m.
Tuesday: 5-10 cm of snow overnight, then a mix of sun and cloud. Light northeast wind. Alpine high around -10 °C. Freezing level valley bottom.
Wednesday: A mix of sun and cloud. Light northeast wind. Alpine high around -13 °C. Freezing level valley bottom.
On Sunday, ski cuts produced size 1 storm slabs.
On Saturday, near Fernie, avalanche control with explosives triggered several storm slab avalanches up to size 2.5 on northeast aspects in the alpine, and a few loose dry avalanches up to size 1.5 around treeline.
On Friday, near Fernie, numerous natural, rider, and explosive triggered storm slab avalanches up to size 2.5 were reported. Also, Numerous loose wet avalanches up to size 1.5 were reported in steep terrain on all aspects below tree line.
On Thursday, there were reports of many small Loose Wet avalanches in steep terrain below tree line across the region.
The top 20-35 cm of low density surface snow has seen little wind effect. Surfaces may be either moist or crusty on steep solar aspects and below 1900 m. 50-100 cm of recent storm snow contains a melt-freeze crust embedded within it as high as 2100 m. This snow buried a variety of old surfaces including sun crusts, freezing rain crusts, or weak snow crystals on shaded aspects.
A spotty layer of surface hoar layer buried in late January can be found 80-120 cm deep. Although we haven't seen any recent avalanche activity, operators continue to track it especially in the Flathead where it is most prominent. In the Lizard range, it's distribution is isolated.
The lower snowpack is generally well consolidated, with a crust/facet layer from early December found near the ground. It is currently considered dormant but could become active later this season.
