More wind on the way as a Westerly flow moves into the region.
Wind slabs exist in the alpine and some tree line locations that may be possible to trigger in steep terrain. They are sitting on a variety of surfaces including old wind effect, surface hoar, sun crusts and facets.
A Westerly flow will bring increase cloud cover and strong winds to the region. Light precipe with minimal accumulation is expected by end of day Sunday. As the system continues to move East, snow fall amounts will increases with a total accumulation by Tuesday of 10-30cm. Freezing levels will climb to 1600m by Tuesday.
Extensive wind effect in the alpine and some treeline elevations. 20-40 cm of soft faceted recent storm snow in sheltered areas over the Feb 15 interface. The Jan 30th surface hoar/sun crust layer is down 35 to 60 cm and variable in distribution and reactivity, producing moderate sudden planar to no results in snowpack tests.
A remote cornice failure triggered a size 3 avalanche in Kootenay National Park on Wednesday. On a flight over the forecast region Saturday several old avalanches from early last week were observed, this activity appeared to be a combination of wind slabs, storm slabs and loose dry. No NEW avalanches observed or reported Saturday.
