New snow tempting but it's good to be cautious
By Boundary Sentinel
New snow is calling to those who enjoy winter sports, but the Canadian Avalanche Center suggests enthusiasts be observant.
Light amounts of new snow fell in the region on Wednesday night and the forecasted wind and snow will add to the size and reactivity of this developing slab, according to Joe Lammers, one of the center’s forecasters in a bulletin. The variety of surfaces which may include weak surface hoar crystals, a sun crust on steep solar aspects, and well settled storm snow from last week are complex.
In the mid snowpack there may be a spotty, thin buried surface hoar layer between 50 and 80cm down. At the base of the snowpack sits the early November rain crust. These layers seem to have been unreactive in recent days, but may have the potential to ‘wake-up’ with forecast loading.
“In general, snowpack data is sparse in this region and significant variations likely exist from one drainage to another,” explained Lammers in the bulletin. “In short, digging down and making your own observations will be critical to safe slope selection.”
Any observations from the field are welcome at forecaster@avalanche.ca.
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