Regions
Banff Yoho Kootenay.
Heads up to folks skiing the steep burns in Kootenay! The dry facets are easily triggered and although relatively small volume, they are running fast and far! This has not been as much of a problem in the rest of the forecast region.
Weather Forecast
We are under a benign weather pattern for Friday and Saturday, with mild temperatures, light W/NW winds and broken skies. A few systems are moving in off the coast and will start to affect us on Saturday PM with some light precipitation and more of a SW flow.
Snowpack Summary
In general there is 10-15 cm over the Jan 6 combination of surface hoar, facets and sun crust depending on aspect and elevation. Moderate to strong winds have formed small wind slabs in the upper alpine and can be found on most aspects. The snowpack is facetting but still supportive in deeper areas (> 1m snowpack)
Avalanche Summary
No new avalanches observed or reported today. However, over the last few days there have been some small windslabs reported, primarily in south facing alpine terrain where a buried suncrust is present. As well, facet avalanches in steep terrain are running far when initiated at all elevations.
Confidence
Timing, track, or intensity of incoming weather system is uncertain on Saturday
Problems
Loose Dry
Loose Dry avalanches are the release of dry unconsolidated snow and typically occur within layers of soft snow near the surface of the snowpack. These avalanches start at a point and entrain snow as they move downhill, forming a fan-shaped avalanche. Other names for loose-dry avalanches include point-release avalanches or sluffs.
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.