These danger ratings are for areas with less than 20 cm of recent storm snow. If your area has had higher snowfall amounts, these danger ratings may be a bit low.
Confidence
Moderate - Timing, track, or intensity of incoming weather system is uncertain
Weather Forecast
A weak ridge of high pressure is building over the interior ranges. Some light flurries can be expected overnight with moderate alpine winds from the northwest. Alpine temperatures should be around -10 on Friday with periods of broken sky or scattered cloud. There may be some solar warming on steep southerly aspects. The next storm is forecast to move inland from the coast on Saturday. There is some uncertainty regarding the timing and intensity of this next storm. Cold air and high pressure to the east may slow down the system resulting in about 3-5 cm by Sunday morning. Light snow should continue during the day on Sunday.
Avalanche Summary
Some small wind slabs size 1.0 were reported on Thursday morning from the north of the region. These wind slabs were the result of recent moderate northwest winds in the alpine, and they were 10-15 cm deep. On Wednesday a skier remotely triggered a wind slab from 30 metres away that was size 1.5 and the crown was 10-20 cm deep. Also on Thursday in the center of the region we had a report of numerous wind slabs skier controlled to size 1.0 on steep unsupported terrain at treeline. Conditions have been reported to be very different from the Selkirk mountains to the west, where much more storm snow has accumulated.
Snowpack Summary
Light and dry new snow has been transported into stiff wind slabs that are 10-20 cm deep in the alpine and at treeline. The upper snowpack is generally loose and unconsolidated in sheltered areas, however there is now 30-40 cm sitting on a mix of surface hoar, facets, and sun crusts that were buried January 4th. Some operations continue to track buried surface hoar from early December. While test results on deeply buried surface hoar continue to show planar results when hard forces are applied, there have not been any avalanches reported failing on this layer. I have removed the persistent weak layer problem from the front page, and we will continue to monitor reports from operators in this region. The mid and lower snowpack is generally well settled and strong.
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.