Hazard is elevated in the far north of the region where recent strong wind has formed small reactive wind slabs in exposed high elevation terrain.
For the rest of the region, the widespread melt-freeze crust remains near the surface and avalanches remain unlikely.
Small wind slabs are reactive to human-triggering in the far north of the region. Ongoing periods of strong wind on Wednesday may continue to develop these slabs where there is still snow available for transport.
High pressure remains the dominant feature for the rest of the week. However, a disturbance is expected to move through the region late Wednesday bringing increased cloud cover and strong northwest winds.
Tuesday Night: Clear, light to moderate N wind, treeline low around -12 °C.
Wednesday: Mainly sunny with increasing cloud in the late afternoon, wind becoming strong NW, treeline high around -3 °C.
Thursday: Cloud clearing in the afternoon, light to moderate N wind, treeline high around +1 °C.
Friday: Mainly sunny, light SW wind, treeline high around +2 °C.
The Avalanche Canada field team reported thin wind slabs were reactive to human-triggering in the far north of the region on Tuesday. These may remain reactive for a few days with the cold temperatures.
For the rest of the region which saw substantially less recent snowfall, a widespread surface crust is making avalanches unlikely.
Through most of the region, up to 5 cm of recent storm snow sits on a thick and supportive melt-freeze crust which caps the snowpack on all aspects and elevations. The exception is the far north of the region around Mt. Cain where the weekend storm produced as much as 20 cm. Pockets of thin wind slabs were reported to have formed on Tuesday in exposed high elevation terrain in the far north of the region.
The prominent late-January crust is now down 10-60 cm and is well bonded to the surrounding snow. The mid and lower snowpack is considered well settled and strong.
Shallow snow cover at low elevations leaves many hazards like stumps and creeks exposed at or just below the snow surface.
