Wind slabs are out there, but avalanches may not be your biggest hazard over the next few days. Time to start factoring bitterly cold temperatures into your trip plans.
Light new snow and elevated, shifting winds in the early week created new wind slabs to manage on a range of aspects. Forecast northerly winds should keep slab formation in progress on Wednesday.
Observations have been limited but reports from Sunday and Monday included:
-A natural size 1.5 wind slab on a north aspect in the alpine north of Loos.
-A natural size 2 (large) wind slab on a southwest aspect at treeline in Pine Pass.
-A small (size 1) ski cut wind slab above the east arm of Quesnel Lake, northeast aspect at treeline.
Wind slabs will likely remain sensitive to human triggering Wednesday. Their distribution should also increase as winds shift to northerly.
About 10-15 cm of new snow fell in the region in the early week. It mainly buried wind-affected surfaces and wind slabs in exposed areas at elevation and otherwise added to about 30 cm of settling recent snow. All this snow overlies a crust up to 1400 m on all aspects, but it may sit over a weak layer of surface hoar in sheltered areas.
Two additional layers of surface hoar can be found in the top meter of the snowpack at treeline. The likelihood of triggering these layers is generally low, with the possible exception being shallow, rocky areas at upper treeline.
The current snowpack has considerable variation in structure and depths across the region and is shallow for this time of year.
Tuesday night
Cloudy with continuing flurries bringing about 5 cm of new snow. Southwest alpine wind shifting northeast or northwest late in the day, 20 to 40 km/h.
Wednesday
Mainly sunny or thin overcast. Northeast or northwest alpine wind 5-15 km/h. Treeline temperature -20°C to -25°C.
Thursday
Mainly sunny. Northeast alpine wind 20-50 km/h. Treeline temperature -30°C.
Friday
Sunny. North or northwest alpine wind 10-25 km/h. Treeline temperature -30 to -35°C.
More details can be found in the Mountain Weather Forecast.
