The extreme cold continues. Even a minor issue can become a major emergency with these temperatures.
Wind slabs are being found in alpine terrain and in specific features at treeline such as gullies. They are beginning to settle but are still reactive in steeper terrain.
Another cold night with temps near -33, which will "warm" to -23 on Wednesday under mostly sunny skies. A trace of new snow will fall Tuesday night. Winds will be light to moderate from the W and NW.
Nothin new observed or reported today.
The prolonged cold is faceting the surface snow as well as above and below the Dec crust layer down 70cm on average. While this crust layer has not been active recently, snowpack tests indicate it is a layer to watch. A serious skier-triggered avalanche in the West Kootenays on this layer reminds us to be constantly evaluating this layer (check out the MIN for more details). Both surface and buried wind slabs are present in lee and cross-loaded terrain in the Alpine and at Treeline, and these slabs remain the principal concern in our region.
