Regions
Banff Yoho Kootenay.
Excellent riding conditions with 30 cm of light dry snow in the past 48-hours but strong NE winds today will have produced wind slabs to watch for. Bust out your big down jacket, as temperatures are about to plummet reaching -28 by Wednesday.
Weather Forecast
Snow flurries continuing into Monday, but the bulk of the precipitation from this storm has fallen already. On Monday the cold air truly arrives: the day starts at -13 and by evening we should reach -25. Looks like cold, calm and clear for the week ahead.
Snowpack Summary
30 cm of light, dry storm snow has fallen over the past 48-hours and instabilities within this storm snow are failing easily down 10 and 25 cm with snowpack tests. In exposed areas, wind slabs have been created over these weak layers by Sunday's NE winds. Deeper in the snowpack, the Nov crust appears to weakening, with easy test results observed.
Avalanche Summary
Sunshine Village patrol was reporting soft wind slabs formed with minimal propagation (fractures not spreading far), and otherwise no avalanches observed or reported - although visibility was poor.
Problems
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.
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.