Storm snow totals over the past two days are approximately 15-25cm, which fell with light to moderate winds from the south west.On Monday precipitation fell as rain below about 1300 metres and a near-surface crust may exist in some areas below treeline. Where more recent precipitation fell as snow, southwest winds may have formed touchy wind slabs in high elevation lee terrain.The critical instabilities, however, are buried well below the surface.
See this video for a summary of conditions near Nelson. A mixture of weak surface hoar and/or a crust from mid-January is buried beneath all the storm snow at 80-110cm deep. Numerous recent avalanches to size 2.5 have been reported on this layer and large, destructive avalanches at this interface remain a concern.Below this layer lies a second crust/surface hoar interface buried early-January that is now 110-130 cm deep. Several recent avalanches have stepped down to this layer.The mid-December surface hoar layer is buried 120-150 cm below the surface. This layer has continued to produce step down releases and "sudden" test results. It is most pronounced at tree line, but is also present below tree line .