Give the recent snow a day or two to find its equilibrium before venturing into exposed avalanche terrain.
Confidence
Fair - Due to the number of field observations
Weather Forecast
A weak ridge provides a break from heavy precipitation, but doesn't bring clear skies, through Monday and Tuesday. The freezing level slowly falls to near 800 m and SW winds are light to moderate. On Wednesday, around 5 cm snow is expected, with gradually warming temperatures.
Avalanche Summary
Several size 2 natural wind slabs were observed in the north of the region on Saturday.
Snowpack Summary
Recent snow and strong SW winds have led to wind slabs in wind-affected terrain and storm slabs elsewhere. These overlie a hard crust and/or surface hoar. Easy and propagating results in snowpack tests show the potential for avalanches to fail at this interface below the storm snow. Wind slabs and storm slabs may be easy to trigger with the weight of a person or snowmobile. Deeper snowpack weaknesses are still on our radar, but seem to be dormant for the time being.
Problems
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.
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.