Avoid wind loaded terrain at all elevations. Fresh wind slabs will continue to form throughout the day on Saturday.
As the storm continues throughout the day on Friday and Saturday new reactive wind slabs will form on northerly aspects. These wind slabs will overlie old hard slabs and wind effected surfaces. Strong winds will mean that wind slab could form further down slope then expected. The largest and most sensitive wind slabs will be found at White Pass.
Friday night: moderate to strong south winds with 5 to 15cm of snow throughout the day. Greatest snowfall in the White Pass area. Low of -3 at 1100m.
SATURDAY: Stormy weather continues with 10 to 20cm in the White Pass area. Moderate wind from the south. High of -2 at 1100m.
Sunday: clearing throughout the day, snow ending in the early afternoon. Winds becoming light. High of -12 at 1100m.
Monday: clear skies with a high of -20 at 1100m. Moderate north wind.
We suspect new rider triggerable wind slabs formed throughout the day on Friday.
On Wednesday our field team observed a size 2 natural wind slab avalanche on a southeast aspect at 1500m.
A few small (size 1-1.5) wind slab avalanches were reported on Tuesday, including a skier controlled wind slab from the AvCan field team.
Open terrain will continue to experience steady blowing snow . This will further reshape the already variable snow surface with a mix of fresh soft wind slabs, old hard wind slabs, sastrugi, and scoured surfaces. Pockets of soft snow may be found in sheltered trees. Some thin crusts may be found near the surface on south-facing slopes and at lower elevations further inland where there has been recent snowmelt. There are currently no concerns about the lower snowpack, although areas with thin snowpacks have weak faceted snow near the ground.
