Northwest Inland

Weather models are showing variable snowfall amounts for Thursday. Assess local accumulated amounts and employ a conservative approach with route selection. Expect rapid changes with elevation due to the snow-rain line during the storm.

Moderate - Timing, track, or intensity of incoming weather system is uncertain

WEDNESDAY NIGHT: Partly cloudy, light to moderate west winds, freezing level 500 m.THURSDAY: Mostly cloudy with light snowfall, accumulation trace to 5 cm, moderate south winds, alpine temperature -8 C, freezing level 500 m.FRIDAY: Mostly cloudy with light snowfall, accumulation 5 cm, light west winds, alpine temperature -6 C, freezing level 300 m.SATURDAY: Mostly cloudy with light snowfall, light to moderate southwest winds, alpine temperature -9 C, freezing level below valley bottom.

There were no reports of avalanches on Tuesday, likely corresponding with limited people venturing into the stormy conditions.Three recent MIN reports all describe recent avalanche activity around the Smithers area. The avalanches were generally described as hard wind slabs, with some scrubbing to the ground through the faceted snow described in the snowpack summary. Check them out here, here, and here. We often have a hard time getting reports of avalanche activity from this region, so if you see anything, please post your observations to the Mountain Information Network! (MIN). Thanks!

Expect fresh wind slabs to have formed with up to 20 cm of new snow that fell with strong southwest winds. These will sit on lingering hard wind slabs from last weekend. Below around treeline elevations, expect rain to have made some of the recent snow soggy, before freezing into a melt-freeze crust.Buried under recent storm snow, you may find a few weak layers in sheltered areas comprising of feathery surface hoar crystals and/or sugary faceted snow. The upper layer was buried around December 31 and is about 20 cm deep. The next layer may have been buried around December 22 and is likely 30-50 cm deep. The lower one was buried in early-December and is now approximately 80-120 cm deep. Deeper in the snowpack, there are several crusts including an early-season crust with faceted snow near the bottom of the snowpack.