Recent snow is most likely to be triggered in freshly wind-loaded terrain features.
Recent storm snow is expected to be reactive to natural and human triggers, especially in freshly wind-loaded terrain features. Watch for wind loading in open areas at all elevations.
Curiously, besides some sluffing in steep terrain, there have been no reports of avalanche activity in recent days, despite the accumulating storm snow.
In neighboring regions to the north of highway 16 and to the south of Kinbasket, large (size 2+) wind slabs have been observed on north to east aspects at upper elevations, triggered both naturally and artificially.
Ongoing flurries continue to add to 30 to 60 cm of recent storm snow sitting over a prominent crust that extends up to 2200 m. Wind is redistributing the recent snow in exposed terrain.
Where the crust is thick and supportive, it effectively caps a couple of mid snowpack instabilities, making them difficult to trigger. These include a spotty surface hoar layer, and a crust/facet layer from mid November. These layers may still be a concern in the high alpine where the crust is thin or nonexistent.
Saturday Night
Mostly cloudy. 2 to 10 cm of snow. 40 km/h southwest ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -8 °C.
Sunday
Mostly cloudy. 5 cm of snow in most areas, 15+cm in high terrain near Mitchell Lake. 40 km/h south ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -7 °C.
Monday
Mostly cloudy. 10 to 15 cm of snow overnight then 5 cm over the day. 50 km/h southwest ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -10 °C.
Tuesday
Mix of sun and clouds. 1 to 4 cm of snow. 20 km/h south ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -7 °C.
More details can be found in the Mountain Weather Forecast.
