We are forecast to get more than a foot of new snow overnight and into Sunday. Snowfall could be heavy at times. Above treeline this snow will form large Wind Slabs. Below treeline, the heavy snowfall could form Storm Slabs. Sunday will be a good day to tread carefully.
Expect storm conditions. Lot's of new snow with moderate to strong winds from the South West will continuously load North and East slopes at and above treeline. This is a good day to be conservative as Wind Slabs could be larger than we're used to seeing so far this year.
As of Saturday, Wind Slabs were already forming, and Cornices were growing rapidly.
We are likely to receive over a foot of snow overnight and into tomorrow. The snowfall could be heavy at times. While there are no major temperature fluctuations forecast during the storm, Storm Slabs are possible due to the shear amount of new snow, and possible rapid rate of accumulation. Your best tools for evaluating Storm Slab potential are the tests that you can perform in (or adjacent to) the skin track like small test slopes, and hand shears.
My focus will be on the new snow and the avalanche problems associated with the storm. Last week started with very cold clear weather and then finished very warm. This has left us with a lot of variablility in the existing snowpack based on elevation and aspect. The only problematic layer that we have encountered was a layer of near surface facets that was burried on 12/30. At this point it seems very specific to Tam Rim and perhaps the immediately sourrounding area. Today (Saturday) it would have been burried 30-40 cm.
