Confidence
Fair - Forecast snowfall amounts are uncertain on Friday
Weather Forecast
Overnight and Friday: 2-5 cms is expected overnight combined with strong Westerly winds. Another 2-5 cms is forecast during the day as the winds lower to moderate values. The next pulse of moisture is expected to start late Friday night or Saturday morning and could bring 5-10 cms.Saturday: Overcast with Light flurries and -11.0 in the alpine.Sunday :Light flurries in the morning with a chance of broken skies in the afternoon.
Avalanche Summary
No new avalanches reported.
Snowpack Summary
Variable hard surfaces like wind slabs and sun crusts developed during the recent period with no precipitation. Some areas have a weak layer of surface hoar and/or surface facets that were on top of the hard sliding layers that are now buried. The new storm snow has not bonded well to these old surfaces, but reports suggest that the new snow has not consolidated into a cohesive slab. Forecast snow is expected to continue to develop a storm slab above the weak layers and sliding surfaces.
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.