With increasing winds on Sunday and soft snow available for transport, we will likely see wind slab development and dry loose avalanches in the alpine. Monitor wind loading during the day and watch for an increase in avalanche hazard as a result.
Sheltered areas should continue to provide great skiing!
SW winds will increase into the moderate range with strong gusts on Sunday afternoon. With all the soft surface snow around, this will start building wind slabs in lee areas of the alpine. Monitor the wind slab development Saturday night and Sunday, and use caution in or below freshly loaded areas.
With the lack of wind over the past several days, there is a fair bit of soft snow available for wind transport. Watch for dry loose avalanches in steep alpine terrain when the winds pick up later in the day.
Some small dry loose avalanches were reported out of steep alpine terrain. No new slab avalanches observed or reported for this area on Saturday. But check out the recent avalanches in the Kootenay and Yoho Sub-regions.
15-25 cm recent low density snow, with minimal wind effect, overlays sun-crusts on solar aspects and scoured terrain in alpine. In some areas, the Jan 24 layer (surface hoar/crust) is down 25–35 cm at treeline and below. (Check for this layer before committing to bigger terrain). Below this, the snowpack is generally strong and well settled.
Sunday will start sunny and become a mix of sun and clouds later in the day, with clouds and light flurries expected on Sunday night. Alpine winds will be out of the SW and increase from light in the morning to moderate with strong gusts in the afternoon. Treeline temperatures are expected to be between -12°C and -6°C.
