Regions
South Coast Inland.
There is low confidence in this forecast due to limited observations. As always, and especially when confidence is low, it is essential to supplement this information with your own observations. And don't forget to post them to the MIN!
Weather Forecast
Another 5-10 cm of snow is expected overnight Tuesday throughout Wednesday with moderate to strong southwesterly alpine winds and daytime high freezing levels reaching 900 m. Thursday should be relatively dry with snow starting overnight and continuing throughout Friday resulting in another 5-15 cm of accumulation with strong southwest alpine winds and freezing levels rising as high as 1500 m.
Avalanche Summary
No new reports from the alpine. Duffey Lake highways patrol recorded numerous size 2.0 and one size 3.0 storm slab avalanches on Friday.
Snowpack Summary
Treeline snowpack depths are around 140 cm in the Duffey Lake area, but only around 60 cm in Coquihalla Pass. Slopes that were loaded by southwest winds during recent storms may have likely developed deep pockets of weak wind slabs. A thick crust can likely be found in the mid-pack down 50-70 cm at treeline elevations or deeper in the alpine. Buried surface hoar has also been reported in the early season snowpack.
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.