The avalanche cycle that occurred on Sunday has now ended thanks to the onset of colder temperatures, but although the natural cycle has ended, the potential for human triggering remains, both from recent windslabs as well as buried persistent weak layers. Tuesday looks like a gentle day, then more snow is expected on Wed and Thurs.
Windslabs formed on Sunday now have reduced reactivity due to the onset of cold temperatures, which has helped stabilize surface layers. However, they are not gone and expect to find windslabs in most leeward, loaded areas. While unlikely to release naturally, they could still be triggered.
A facet or facet/crust interface 40 to 80 cm down, formed in late January, has been the failure plane for several large avalanches in the region. We have limited information on its spatial distribution, but this layer has been observed on all aspects and elevations.
Observations of yesterday's cycle include a large natural avalanche (size 3+) in the main Healy Creek path, as well as another large avalanche off the Quartz Ridge near Sunshine Village. Down near Field, Guiness Gully ran and hit the side of the road, Mt Stephen glacier path ran into the snowshed, and Mt Dennis (left of the climbs) ran size 2.5 into the runout zone.
Today, Sunshine patrol triggered size 1.5-2 windslabs with explosives.
Sunday's 20-40 cm of snow was blown into windslabs by extreme winds, and fell as rain to almost 2000 m, causing a widespread avalanche cycle. Monday's temperature drop of 12 degrees has created a crust to 2000m with 5-10 cm of dry snow on the surface. Windslabs remain in the alpine, but they are less reactive due to the cold. The layer of facets (Jan 24) down 40-60 cm remains at treeline and above, and we expect it to still be reactive.
Our region is now under the influence of a NW flow, which should keep temperatures cool and precipitation steady through the week. Tuesday looks like around 5 cm, but expect another 20 cm by Wednesday and Thursday. Temperatures will remain cool (-10 to -15), and winds will be light to moderate through this period.
