Regions
Northwest Coastal.
The places you are going to find the best riding conditions in the wake of the storm are probably the same places where the danger from a layer of buried surface hoar is greatest.
Weather Forecast
THURSDAY: light snowfall, and moderate easterly winds, freezing level of 500m. FRIDAY: flurries, light to moderate southerly winds, freezing level of 500mr. SATURDAY: There is some uncertainty in the forecast track of the storm that should hit the coast on Saturday. Some models have it coming in further north which could bring another 10cm of snow to the north west others have it missing the region entirely.
Avalanche Summary
Widespread avalanche activity was reported throughout the recent storm.
Snowpack Summary
Fresh storm and wind slabs are apparently bonding poorly to a variety of weak layers down between 70cm and 1m. The most worrying of these is a layer of surface hoar, which has the potential for remote triggering and wide propagations. It is likely to be lurking in most sheltered areas at tree-line and below although it has been spotted well into the alpine in Bear Pass. Below 1500m heavy rains may have formed a new crust.
Problems
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.