Regions
South Coast Inland.
Danger is expected to increase with forecast snow and wind. As always, and especially when forecast confidence is low, it's important to supplement this forecast with your own observations. Please post your obs to the MIN.
Weather Forecast
Light to moderate snowfall is expected for Thursday and Friday with 5-10cm of accumulation each day accompanied by moderate to strong southerly alpine winds and daytime high freezing levels reaching 1200 m. Snowfall and winds should ease off with a clearing and cooling trend for Saturday.
Avalanche Summary
No new avalanche activity has been reported. Storm slabs are likely touchy to rider triggers.
Snowpack Summary
Another 15-25 cm of fresh snow on Tuesday brings snowpack depths at treeline to around a metre with over 150 cm in the alpine. At thick crust can likely be found down approximately 30-40 cm at treeline elevations or deeper in the alpine. Buried surface hoar has also been reported in the upper snowpack. Recent winds are likley building deep and touchy windslabs on leeward slopes below ridgecrests in exposed terrain. When traveling in the mountains Id maintain an investigative approach and dig down to test for weak layers before committing to a slope. If you've been in the mountains, please share your observations on our Mountain Information Network.
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.