A refresh is expected Friday with 20-30cm possible. Expect the new snow to be touchy if the forecast winds materialize, and give the new snow some time to settle before pushing into bigger terrain.
Weather Forecast
20-30cm of snow is expected tonight into Friday afternoon. Alpine winds will be strong from the SW Friday morning, dropping in the afternoon. Temperatures will also drop Friday afternoon, with a clearing trend on Saturday.
Snowpack Summary
Up to 25-40cm over the last week has been redistributed by strong W/SW winds forming wind slabs in lee features down to treeline. The March 15 suncrust is down 25-40cm on solar aspects and has been sensitive to skier triggering over the last few days. The mid- pack land basal layers have been dormant for the past while.
Avalanche Summary
No avalanches reported or observed today. Yesterday there were a few cornice triggered wind slabs up to size 2 in the Bow Hut area and Sunshine village. The good news is even with that large trigger, nothing too big was released!
Confidence
Forecast snowfall amounts are uncertain on Friday
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.
Persistent Slabs
Persistent Slab avalanches are the release of a cohesive layer of snow (a slab) in the middle to upper snowpack, when the bond to an underlying persistent weak layer breaks. Persistent layers include: surface hoar, depth hoar, near-surface facets, or faceted snow. Persistent weak layers can continue to produce avalanches for days, weeks or even months, making them especially dangerous and tricky. As additional snow and wind events build a thicker slab on top of the persistent weak layer, this avalanche problem may develop into a Deep Persistent Slab.