Regions
Northwest Coastal.
Weather Forecast
Tuesday: Dry with some good periods of sunshine. Freezing level around 600 m. Winds light north-easterly. Wednesday: Starting off clear but clouds developing mid-morning. Light snowfall, with amounts around 3 cm expected. Moderate southwest winds. Thursday: Another weak frontal system moves in bringing 5-10 cm new snow and elevating freezing levels to around 1100 m.
Avalanche Summary
Slab avalanches initiating from ski cuts have been reported up to size 1.5 on steep, wind effected alpine ridges on eastern aspects. Sluffing of new snow in steep terrain has also been reported.
Snowpack Summary
Strong overnight south-westerlies in areas close to the coast have redistributed the small amount of new snow into isolated pockets of wind slab behind terrain features in the alpine. Approximately 5-10 cm of new snow at treeline and above has buried a surface hoar layer (crystal size reported to be 1-4 mm) lying on old surfaces comprising crusts and variable wind slabs. The crusts formed in response to successive melt-freeze cycles and are harder and thicker the lower in elevation you go. The wind slabs were deposited on a variety of aspects and are becoming increasingly stubborn and difficult to trigger. Deeper within the snowpack, a facet layer buried around Jan 20th is the greatest concern. This layer lies approximately 110-140 cm below the surface and still exhibits hard, sudden planar results in isolated snowpack tests.
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.