Regions
Kootenay Boundary.
If more than 20 cm new snow arrives by Friday morning with wind, bump danger levels up by one for all elevations.
Confidence
Poor - Intensity of incoming weather is uncertain
Weather Forecast
Friday: Snowfall is expected to continue overnight Thursday but taper off Friday morning. Up to 10 cm can be expected by noon on Friday. Treeline temperatures are expected to be around -4C. Winds moderate southerly.Saturday: The region could see another good hit of snow Friday night, with a possibility for 10-15 cm of new snow by Saturday morning and maybe a little more during the day. Treeline temperatures falling to around -6. Winds gusting to around 60 km/h from the SW.Sunday: Flurries or light snowfall. Temperatures continuing their downward trend. Winds light southwesterly.
Avalanche Summary
On Thursday, machine-triggered avalanches were reported running at the base of the most recent storm snow down 20 to 50 cm. Explosive testing produced avalanche up to size 2.5 in the storm snow at elevations around 2000 m.On Wednesday, natural and skier-triggered avalanches up to size 2.0 were reported to be releasing down 30-50 cms in the storm snow.
Snowpack Summary
The most recent storm brought 20-40 cms of dry light snow combined with moderate to strong Southwest winds. The storm slab has been very easy to trigger in areas where the wind stiffened the slab a bit. In most places the slab is still soft to very soft and it is not propagating far. Expect heavy sluffing in steep terrain. The well settled mid-pack has not been showing shears in snow profile tests.
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.
Loose Dry
Loose Dry avalanches are the release of dry unconsolidated snow and typically occur within layers of soft snow near the surface of the snowpack. These avalanches start at a point and entrain snow as they move downhill, forming a fan-shaped avalanche. Other names for loose-dry avalanches include point-release avalanches or sluffs.