South Coast Inland

Beware of wind slabs in steep alpine terrain.

Reports from Wednesday suggest small (size 1) wind slabs were reactive on a variety of aspects in the alpine and upper treeline elevations. The slabs were 10 to 20 cm thick, with some failing on a buried surface hoar layer.

Wind and sun have created variable surface conditions, with northeast wind heavily impacting open terrain.

15 to 30 cm of snow sits above a widespread crust. Many areas have reported a weak surface hoar layer above this crust, which could be problematic in areas where wind has formed a slab above the layer.

Snowpack depths decrease rapidly below treeline.

Thursday Night

Clear skies. 30 km/h east ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -12 °C.

Friday

Sunny. 30 km/h southeast ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -5 °C.

Saturday

Mix of sun and cloud. 20 km/h south ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -5 °C.

Sunday

Cloudy with 2 to 4 cm of snow. 10 km/h west ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -5 °C.

More details can be found in the Mountain Weather Forecast.

• Be careful with wind slabs, especially in steep, unsupported and/or convex terrain features.