Regions
Northwest Inland.
New wind slabs have formed over a variety of weak surfaces, and will likely remain sensitive to human triggering.
Confidence
Fair - Due to the number of field observations
Weather Forecast
Mainly overcast skies, strong southwest winds and very light snowfall are expected on Saturday. On Sunday and Monday a Pacific low will make landfall bringing light to moderate snowfall (up to 15cm) with the highest accumulations forecast for the south of the region. Winds with the snowfall should be strong to extreme from the southwest. Freezing levels should hover around 1000m on Saturday, spiking briefly at 1500m on Sunday, and then falling back to about 1000m on Monday
Avalanche Summary
At the time of writing, no avalanches have been reported from Thursday, but there may have been some avalanche activity in response to recent snow and wind-loading.
Snowpack Summary
New snow and strong SW winds have likely built reactive wind slabs in exposed lee terrain. These overlie a variety of interfaces including older wind slabs, a sun crust, an old rain crust, surface hoar, and/or surface facets. At the base of the snowpack, weak facets may be found. Keep an eye out for cornices that could fail.
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.