Despite the light winds forecasted for Saturday, recently formed wind slabs will need time to stabilize, as do all these new precipitations. Assess your line carefully before committing to it when you'll go out to enjoy all that snow!
Moderate winds may have transported snow and created wind slabs that need time to stabilize. A lot of snow is available for transport, and the depth of these slabs could be very impressive in places.
Thursday night saw considerably more snow than forecasted. In the Alpine, the winds have redistributed the storm snow unevenly across the features. There is still some doubt about the effects of the winds at treeline on exposed features. In sheltered areas and below the treeline, 55 to 85 cm of low-density snow overlies the December refreeze crust.
A natural avalanche of size 2 was reported on a south-facing slope in the Albert sector.
If you head into the backcountry, thanks for sharing your observations on the Mountain Information Network (MIN).
The calm after the storm, and after all that snow!
Friday evening: Cloudy. Trace of snow. Winds from 25 to 35 km/h from the north. -5C. Freezing level at valley bottom.
Saturday: Mostly cloudy. Trace of snow. Northeast winds from 10 to 15 km/h. -5C.
Sunday: Cloudy. Trace of snow. Wind around 10 km/h from the north. -10C.
Monday: Partly sunny. No precipitation. -13C.
For more details, see the Chic-Chocs alpine weather forecast.
