Up to 25 cm of new snow is expected by Saturday afternoon: Storm slab size and reactivity to triggers will increase as the new snow accumulates
Fall back to simple terrain as conditions worsen
New snow and wind are expected to build reactive storm slabs on Friday night through Saturday. These slabs may be more reactive in areas where the new snow is resting on a layer of surface hoar.
Jan 1
In the Monashees, a skier triggered a size 1.5 wind slab on a wind loaded roll in the alpine.
Dec 31
Several size 1 to 2 storm slabs were triggered with explosive control in the alpine.
Dec 30
A few small to large (size 1 - 2.5) wind slab avalanches were reported in the alpine.
Looking forward: The likelihood of both human and natural-triggered avalanches is expected to rise as storm snow accumulates on Saturday.
10 to 25 cm of new snow accompanied by moderate southwesterly winds at ridgetops is forecast for the region. The new snow will be sitting on a weak layer of surface hoar in many areas, making developing storm slabs potentially more reactive.
The prominent mid-December crust is buried up to 110 cm deep, and is present up to 2300 m. Several weak layers persist in the lower snowpack, but concern is limited to higher-elevation terrain where the crust is absent. Triggering this layer is considered unlikely, except with large loads or in thin snowpack areas.
Friday Night
Cloudy. 1 to 5 cm of snow. 20 km/h south ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -4 °C.
Saturday
Cloudy. 10 to 20 cm of snow. 30 km/h south ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -2 °C.
Sunday
Mostly cloudy. 10 to 20 cm of snow. 20 km/h south ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -3 °C.
Monday
Mostly cloudy. 10 to 20 cm of snow. 30 km/h southwest ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -6 °C.
More details can be found in the Mountain Weather Forecast.
