http://www.pc.gc.ca/apps/links/goto_e.asp?destination=Please continue to avoid avalanche terrain. While natural avalanche activity is beginning to taper, human triggering will continue to be very touchy. Solar releases can be expected from rocky terrain.
Weather Forecast
A few days without precipitation and moderately cold temperatures are forecast. Sunny skies may produce solar releases from rocky areas. The crystal ball says more snow on Tuesday.
Snowpack Summary
Thursdays storm dropped 30 - 50cm with variable winds. This combined with other recent snow has overloaded the 3 main mid pack concerns which are the Jan 16th, Jan 6th, and Dec.15 weak layers. These are a mix of facets, crusts and surface hoar and can be found 70cm to over 150cm deep in the snowpack and are currently producing very large results.
Avalanche Summary
The avalanche cycle seems to be tapering but large, natural events to size 3.5 were noted today. Human triggering continues to be reported. Avalanche control today produced many large avalanches over paths that had been controlled very recently.
Problems
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.
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.