As of Wednesday, April 10
The snowpack this week has been about as stable as it gets around here. A melt-freeze crust has been solidly binding things together everywhere but north aspects in the alpine, where well-settled powder still lingers. Elsewhere, a skiff of new snow is now resting on the crust.
A series of weak frontal bands began to affect our area starting yesterday, and leading toward the weekend. Only small amounts of new snow are initially expected but some small pockets of wind-slab will begin to form in lee alpine terrain under periods of snowfall accumulation and moderate to strong winds. The freezing level is expected to at times climb briefly, producing rain up to treeline.
Saturday however is a different matter. The current runs of the various long-range models are mostly agreeing that Saturday will be warm, wet and windy. This storm will bring a dramatic shift in the snow stability with a trend towards a rapidly increasing avalanche danger, quickly followed by a rapid tightening-up of the surface layers as freezing levels plummet in the wake of the storm.
The backcountry avalanche danger is currently rated as LOW trending toward MODERATE in the alpine with any accumulations of new snow and wind-slab formation.
Conditions may vary and can change rapidly. Check for the most current conditions before heading out into the backcountry.
Daily updates for the areas adjacent to Whistler-Blackcomb are available at 604-938-7676, or at www.whistler-blackcomb.com/weather where there is also a link to the CAA public avalanche bulletin, or call 1-800-667-1105 .
