Regions
South Coast Inland.
Don't let the lure of deep powder in the alpine zone draw you into terrain that's inappropriate for the conditions.
Confidence
Moderate - Due to the number of field observations
Weather Forecast
We're looking at seasonal temperatures, light winds, a mix of sun and cloud with occasional isolated flurries for most of the week. MONDAY: Cloudy with sunny breaks. Freezing levels around 1100m with light northerly winds. TUESDAY: A mix of sun and cloud. Freezing levels around 500m with light northerly winds. WEDNESDAY: A mix of sun and cloud. Freezing levels around 500m with light westerly winds.
Avalanche Summary
No new reported.
Snowpack Summary
SOUTHERN AREAS (e.g. Coquihalla): 10-20cm of snow from last week appears to be bonding well to the previous rain-soaked snow surface up to treeline elevations. At alpine elevations, up to 40cm of storm snow fell with some wind slabs forming on northerly aspects.NORTHERN AREAS (e.g. Duffey Lake): Up to 45 cm of fresh snow by Friday morning brought the storm snow totals to over a metre, which was all redistributed by moderate to strong southerly winds. This resulted in touchy storm and wind slabs bonding poorly to the previous snow surface that includes facets and large surface hoar on sheltered slopes and/or a sun crust on steep sun-exposed aspects, as well as wind-affected surfaces (e.g. hard wind slab, sastrugi, scoured crust, etc.) in exposed areas. Weaknesses within the recent storm snow have been settling - I'd remain suspicious of the bond of the storm snow in the alpine to the previous cold snow surface from over a week ago.
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.