Northwest Coastal

When the wind picks up, slabs are likely to form on lee slopes. Buried surface hoar may make these slabs more reactive.

On Friday and Thursday, north of Stewart, several explosive and skier-triggered wind slab avalanches were triggered up to size 1.5. With more snow and moderate wind in the forecast, triggering wind slab avalanches will remain possible, especially in areas where they overlie surface hoar.On Wednesday, a small loose wet skier-triggered slide occurred near Shames. With the cooler temperatures, loose wet slides are now unlikely.

3 to 10 cm is expected to fall overnight and throughout the day Saturday. This will fall on around 10 cm of old storm snow from last Thursday, which may overlie surface hoar or facets.

At treeline, the old storm snow may be moist and is overlying a thick rain-crust.

The mid and lower snowpack are not concerning at this time, and are made up of various hard layers, or moist snow at lower elevations.

Friday Night

Cloudy with 1 to 5 cm of snow. 25 km/h southeast ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -3 °C.

Saturday

Cloudy with 2 to 4 cm of snow. 25 to 35 km/h variable ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -3 °C.

Sunday

Partly cloudy. 25 to 35 km/h southwest ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -6 °C.

Monday

A mix of sun and cloud. 30 to 40 km/h southeast then east ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -7 °C.

More details can be found in the Mountain Weather Forecast.

• Be careful as you transition into wind-affected terrain.
• Surface hoar distribution is highly variable. Avoid generalizing your observations.
• Pay attention to the wind; once it starts to blow, sensitive wind slabs are likely to form.