Northwest Coastal

Wind slabs may keep building, even if snowfall amounts are not great.

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

Light snow is expected on Friday, Saturday and Sunday (around 5 cm a day). Winds are moderate to strong, mainly from the south. The freezing level should be near 1900 m on Friday, dropping to 300 m on Saturday.

Explosives triggered a size 1.5 wind slab on Wednesday. A skier also recently triggered a size 1 wind slab in the alpine. Explosives control on Sunday triggered several very large avalanches near Stewart, failing at ground or on a deeply buried crust.

Around 1 m of recent storm snow was redistributed by strong and variable winds, creating widespread wind slabs. Operators report settlement and bonding within the storm snow. Older buried surfaces include wind slabs, hard crusts, surface hoar, and/or surface facets. With more snow and wind forecast, new storm slabs are expected to form. The mid-pack is generally well-settled and strong. At the base of the snowpack, weak facets may be found, particularly on shallow alpine slopes in the north of the region. Cornices are large and potentially fragile. Below treeline, the snow appears to be in a spring melt-freeze cycle.