Storm slabs will be building for the next few days as the snow keeps falling. Small surface hoar, sun crust and facets have been buried and will be the layer of concern until the snowpack adjusts to the new load.
A persistent weak layer of surface hoar and/or sun crust may be found down 40-90 cm. As temperatures warm and the snow accumulates we might see this layer become reactive again in areas where it has not already avalanched.
New snow will bury small surface hoar (2-4mm) near tree line and below in sheltered areas, sun crust on steep solar aspects and a facetted interface everywhere else. Though likely to be small, they may have consequence in the right terrain feature.
As the snow accumulates and temperatures gradually warm, expect the reactively of the storm slabs to increase, especially where loaded by the moderate to strong South West winds.
Welcome, to another addition of Thunderdome!... errr, or maybe Snowdome! or Stormdome?!? I don't know, it's snowing!
A series of storm fronts will lather the region for a few days. ~10cm Sunday night, 15-20cm on Monday with 20-35km/hr SW winds. Freezing level of 1600m with an alpine high of -4. ~50cm of accumulated snow by Tuesday evening.
15-20cm of new snow buries a facet layer, small surface hoar (2-4mm) in sheltered areas tree line and below and a crust on steep solar aspects. The Feb 15 surface hoar/sun crust is down 30-70 cm and has not been reactive in tests or skier traffic in the past couple days, but may re-awaken with the new load and warming temps.
The storm slab will be building as we endure a series of storm systems the next few days. Expect natural avalanche activity to increase as the snow keeps falling.
