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</style><p class="p_CC664AAA"><span class="s_3FE45715">Up to 25 cm of recent snow exists in a few areas toward the southwest of the region, the product of spotty convective snowfall at the end of last week. This new snow likely overlies sun crust on sun-exposed aspects. Below any new snow, strong ridge-top winds (most recently from the northeast) have created wind slabs on all aspects at upper elevations. These wind slabs have shown prolonged reactivity because of the faceted (weak, sugary snow) they overlie.</span></p><p class="p_CC664AAA"><span class="s_3FE45715">Lower down there are two layers of surface hoar (weak, feathery crystals) that were buried at the end of January and mid-January. These layers are around 30 to 80 cm deep and are most prominent at lower elevations - especially below treeline. The surface hoar may sit on a crust on south facing slopes in specific locations, which is a dangerous combination.</span></p><p class="p_CC664AAA"><span class="s_3FE45715">The base of the snowpack is composed of weak and sugary faceted grains that sit on a crust. This weak layer has produced large and destructive avalanches that are sporadic in nature and difficult to predict. See the Forecasters' Blog</span><span class="s_1681A555"> </span><a href="https://www.avalanche.ca/blogs/purcells-weakness" target="_blank"><span class="s_69909980">here</span></a><span class="s_1681A555"> </span><span class="s_3FE45715">for more information on this problem. Continued cold temperatures have been progressively weakening the basal snowpack.</span></p>