Watch for changing snow conditions when you gain elevation and transition into open wind affected terrain.
30-50 cm of recent snowfall has potential to form unstable slabs on some steep terrain features. The most likely spot to find reactive slabs is where there has been additional wind loading in lee terrain. There are also some surface hoar and crust layers in the top 50 cm of the snowpack, and while none of these layers are overly concerning, they may act as sliding layers.
THURSDAY NIGHT: Partly cloudy, 20 km/h northwest wind, treeline temperatures drop to -7 C.
FRIDAY: Sunny in the morning then increasing cloud in the afternoon, 20-30 km/h northwest wind, freezing level up to 1500 m and treeline temperatures around -4 C.
SATURDAY: Mix of sun and cloud with some light flurries but no notable accumulations of snow, 20 km/h southwest wind, freezing level up to 1800 m, treeline temperatures around -2 C.
SUNDAY: Flurries with 10-20 cm of snow, 30-50 km/h southwest wind, freezing level up to 1600 m, treeline temperatures around -2 C.
Avalanche activity has quieted down since a Monday and Tuesday when there were numerous reports of size 1-2 storm slab avalanches on north, east, and south facing slopes. On Wednesday reports were primarily limited to size 1-1.5 dry loose and storm slab avalanches in the top 15-20 cm of snow. One size 2 skier triggered avalanche was reported in the southern Selkirks. The avalanche was triggered on a east facing slope at 2250 m and ran on a 30 cm deep crust layer.
On Friday and Saturday there will be a lingering possibility to trigger storm slab, wind slab, and dry loose avalanches in the upper snowpack.
At alpine and treeline elevations 10-15 cm of fresh snow sits above sun crusts on solar aspects and small surface hoar on shaded aspects. Over the past week 30-50 cm has accumulated above an interface that formed during the mid-March dry spell, which consists of a widespread crust (except on north-facing slopes above 1800 m). Overall the snow seems to be bonding well to these interfaces, although there have been a few isolated human triggered avalanches running on crusts layer over the past few days.
Lower elevations have undergone daily melt-freeze cycles, with moist or crusty surfaces likely found up to at least 1800 m.
