Weather Forecast
Friday night and Saturday: Light snowfall on Friday night with a clearing trend throughout Saturday / Moderate southwest winds associated with Friday's system becoming light and northwesterly on Saturday / Freezing level at 1000mSunday: Clear skies / Light and variable winds / Freezing level at 1000m with the possibility of an inversionMonday: Mostly clear skies / Light southwest winds / Freezing level at 1500m with the possibility of an inversion
Avalanche Summary
Recent glide slab releases to size 2 occurred on smooth south-facing slopes in the Duffey Lake area. Otherwise, no new avalanches have been reported.
Snowpack Summary
Light amounts of new snow mingle with newly formed surface hoar. This surface structure overlies variably wind affected snow. Apart from a couple of strengthening storm snow weaknesses, the snowpack is generally well-settled. Surface hoar layers buried in the upper/mid snowpack appear to be gaining strength but still exhibit hard, sudden results in snowpack tests. Near the base of the snowpack, a crust/facet layer appears to be inactive. A thick layer of facets making up the bottom the snowpack was observed on a north aspect near Wendy Thompson Hut in the Duffey Lake area. Although unlikely, triggering an avalanche on a basal weakness may be possible from thin snowpack areas or with a very heavy trigger.
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.