Regions
Northwest Inland.
If you get out in the mountains, please submit your observations to the Mountain Information Network.
Confidence
Poor - Due to the number and quality of field observations
Weather Forecast
Flurries or periods of light snow are forecast overnight combined with moderate westerly winds. Freezing levels should remain at valley bottoms due to an Arctic ridge slowly descending from the north. Unsettled with flurries on Saturday with light to moderate southerly winds. Winds increasing Saturday night as some moisture and warmer air try to push up from the major storm on the south coast.
Avalanche Summary
No recent avalanches have been reported. Thin new storm slabs are expected to develop with forecast snow and wind.
Snowpack Summary
In general, the early season snowpack is shallow and weak. Developing storm slabs are sitting on a mix of crusts and weak facetted crystals or surface hoar in some parts of the region. The southwest of the region sounds like it has the most snow, and probably the most wind with the new snow. We have some reports of a weak facetted base layer in the north of the region where recent temperatures were quite cold during the arctic outbreak. If you get out into the mountains, please submit your observations using the Mountain Information Network.
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.