Sustained wind will create dangerous avalanche conditions in open terrain at higher elevations.
Sustained strong southerly wind will form unstable wind slabs in open terrain, especially along ridgetops. Expect to find a combination of fresh soft wind slabs and old hard wind slabs.
WEDNESDAY NIGHT: Increasing cloud overnight, trace amounts of snow, moderate wind from the southwest, treeline temperatures around -8 C.
THURSDAY: Cloudy with scattered flurries bringing up to 10 cm at the summit of White Pass and less inland, strong wind from the south, treeline temperatures around -8 C.
FRIDAY: Stormy weather continues with 10-20 cm of snow, strong wind from the south, treeline temperatures around -5 C.
SATURDAY: Stormy weather continues with 5-15 cm of snow, moderate to strong wind from the south, treeline temperatures around -5 C.
A few small (size 1-1.5) wind slab avalanches were reported on Tuesday, including a skier controlled wind slab from the AvCan field team. Expect the size and likelihood of wind slab avalanches to increase with the incoming storm.
Open terrain will experience steady blowing snow on Thursday with the incoming storm. This will further reshape the already variable snow surface with a mix of fresh soft wind slabs, old hard wind slabs, sastrugi, and scoured surfaces. Pockets of soft snow may be found in sheltered trees. Some thin crusts may be found near the surface on south-facing slopes and at lower elevations further inland where there has been recent snowmelt. There are currently no concerns about the lower snowpack, although areas with thin snowpacks have weak faceted snow near the ground.
