Regions
Banff Yoho Kootenay.
Embrace the conditions my friends! Cold, dry snow available for those who are not ready to hang up the boards yet! Be aware of the rapid changes to the snowpack on solar aspects. DK
Weather Forecast
Overnight clearing and seasonally cold temps in the -10 to -15 range in the Alpine, which means beautiful clear skies in the morning and sunshine! In the afternoon, expect some cloud development but no precip forecasted. Freezing level to 1800m which should help maintain the crust through the morning depending on sun exposure.
Snowpack Summary
A further 5-10 cm of low density fluff scattered through the forecast area over the day Tuesday. The cold temperatures will form a strong surface crust overnight and offer good support on all but true north aspects. Those shaded aspects should keep the storm snow cool, creamy and light (hint, hint!).
Avalanche Summary
No new avalanches observed or reported.
Problems
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.
Deep Persistent Slabs
Deep Persistent Slab avalanches are the release of a thick cohesive layer of hard snow (a slab), when the bond breaks between the slab and an underlying persistent weak layer deep in the snowpack. The most common persistent weak layers involved in deep, persistent slabs are depth hoar or facets surrounding a deeply buried crust. Deep Persistent Slabs are typically hard to trigger, are very destructive and dangerous due to the large mass of snow involved, and can persist for months once developed. They are often triggered from areas where the snow is shallow and weak, and are particularly difficult to forecast for and manage.