Regions
Northwest Coastal.
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Confidence
Fair - Timing or intensity of solar radiation is uncertain
Weather Forecast
A dry ridge of high pressure will maintain a mix of sun and cloud for Monday and Tuesday. A weak trough will bring increased cloud and light snowfall on Wednesday evening. Winds should remain mainly moderate from the west-northwest. Freezing levels should hover around 2000m on Monday and Tuesday, and then jump to about 2800m on Wednesday.
Avalanche Summary
Explosives control produced storm slabs to size 2 on Saturday in the far north of the region. Otherwise, no new avalanches were reported. With forecast warming and solar radiation, I would expect a round of loose wet avalanche activity with potential for cornice falls and wet slab avalanches.
Snowpack Summary
In the Terrace area, generally light amounts of new snow overlie a hard crust which extends to about 1800m. This melt-freeze crust is adding considerable strength to the snowpack, although warming may weaken the crust allowing for surface avalanches to fail more easily. About 20 or 30cm below the surface you may find weak surface hoar which was buried on February 10th. It is unclear if recent warming has destroyed this potentially weak layer. I'd dig down and test for this layer, especially at upper elevations where colder temperatures may have allowed for this weakness to persist. In general, the mid and lower snowpack are strong and well-settled. Further north in the region, the freezing level is reported to have hovered around 1300m during recent storms. In these areas, new wind slabs are a concern and deeper persistent weaknesses are more likely to exist.
Problems
Loose Wet
Loose Wet avalanches are the release of wet unconsolidated snow or slush. These avalanches typically occur within layers of wet snow near the surface of the snowpack, but they may quickly gouge into lower snowpack layers. Like Loose Dry Avalanches, they start at a point and entrain snow as they move downhill, forming a fan-shaped avalanche. Other names for loose-wet avalanches include point-release avalanches or sluffs. Loose Wet avalanches can trigger slab avalanches that break into deeper snow layers.
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.