With continued snow and wind the slab is expected to become more reactive. Be curious and dig down to check how the storm slab is bonding to the crust (and please submit your observations via Avalanche Canada's Mountain Information Network!)
Weather Forecast
Unsettled weather is expected for the next few days before a ridge of high pressure builds next week. Today should be cloudy with sunny breaks, flurries, and moderate SW winds at ridgetop. Friday we expect 10-15cm snow and moderate SW winds continuing to load lee features. Saturday will be unsettled with mixed sun, cloud and another 5cms.
Snowpack Summary
A significant rain event last week created a series of crusts, that are now buried 40-60cm deep. The slab overlying this crust is developing, but recent observations at treeline and below indicate that the slab and crust are bonding. New windslabs are expected due to moderate to strong S'ly winds over the past 48hrs at ridgetop.
Avalanche Summary
Yesterday several natural avalanches were observed along the highway. They were primarily from North facing paths where windloading of the new snow was triggering size 2-2.5 avalanches in extreme terrain. The terrain where they were observed is comparable to steep paths in Cheops N. Skiers reported ski cutting size 1 avalanches in Ursus Trees.
Confidence
Due to the number of field observations
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.