Southerly winds are forecast to increase from moderate to strong tonight. With plenty of snow available for transport, winds will build thick wind slabs in lees.
Use caution when transitioning into wind-affected areas. Carefully assess the bond between the slab and the underlying crust.
Wind slabs could still be reactive due to the crust they have formed over. As southerly winds increase through Sunday night expect to find the largest and most reactive slabs on north and east aspects.
On Friday a size 1.5 skier remote storm slab avalanche was reported. This slab was 25 cm deep and released on a steep northeast slope at 1400m. Several other avalanches like this one were reported to have occurred on Friday. triggers included ski cuts and naturals. Check out this MIN from Mt Washington.
30 to 40cm of recent storm snow is settling over a melt-freeze crust above 1000 m. A thin layer of facets could exist around this interface. Strong southerly winds have redistributed available snow into deep wind slabs on north and east aspects and cross-loading on others. Below 1000m the snow surface could still be moist.
Once again terrain below treeline has limited or no coverage.
Sunday Night
Cloudy with clear periods. Ridgetop winds southerly 20 to 40 km/h. A low of -3 at 1500m. Freezing levels around 800m.
Monday
Cloudy with light flurries, trace accumulation. Ridgetop winds southerly 20km/h. A high of -1 at 1500m. Freezing levels 1000m.
Tuesday
Cloudy with isolated flurries, 2-8 cm accumulation. Ridgetop winds southerly 20 km/h gusting to 40 km/h. A high of -1 at 1500m. Freezing levels 1000m.
Wednesday
Cloudy with light flurries, trace accumulation. Ridgetop winds southerly 20 to 40 km/h. A high of -1 at 1500m. Freezing levels 1000m.
More details can be found in the Mountain Weather Forecast.
