Assess local conditions, especially at alpine elevations, because of unusual wind directions.
Weather Forecast
The trend over the next few days is for drying, slightly cooler temperatures, and light winds (except for NE or E outflow winds near the coast or big mountain passes). Only traces of new snow are expected between now and the end of the weekend. Cloud cover should diminish to where there is a good chance of more sun than cloud during the weekend. Thursday temperatures near treeline should be a few degrees below freezing, but then it is expected to cool down to -10 to -15 C during the weekend. Light winds from the NE or East through Friday. For more information go to www.avalanche.ca/weather
Avalanche Summary
No new avalanches were reported.
Snowpack Summary
Storm snow with generally 5 to 10 cm, with maybe 15cm in the odd location in the past couple of days. The fresh snow covers old surfaces including: melt-freeze crust on solar aspects in the alpine, wind drifted snow in exposed higher elevation terrain, and well-developed surface hoar in sheltered areas at treeline and below. Winds were strong enough on Tuesday that soft wind slabs are possible at high-elevation in terrain lee to southerly winds. The mid and lower snowpack is generally strong.
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.