Before entering committing terrain, carefully evaluate if soft snow or old wind slabs are well bonded to the near-surface crust.
Wind slabs may have formed much further down the slope than normal. These wind slabs may fail on, or step down to the thick, frozen rain crust that formed in early February.
On Saturday, west of Pincher Creek, explosive testing produced a couple of large (size 2) avalanches that failed on faceted snow above the early February rain crust.
Recent moderate to strong winds have varied in direction, forming wind slabs on all aspects and at all elevations. In terrain sheltered from the wind, expect 30 to 50 cm over the thick rain crust that formed in early February.
Below this crust, the shallow, faceted snowpack is generally well consolidated.
Saturday Night
Clear. No new snow expected. Light southwest ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -6 °C.
Sunday
Partly cloudy. No new snow expected. Light southwest ridgetop wind, possibly northwest in the south half of the forecast area. Treeline temperature -5 °C.
Monday
Mostly cloudy. No new snow expected. Light variable ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature around -4 °C. Freezing level rising to 1500 m in the south half of the forecast area.
Tuesday
Mostly cloudy. 0-2 cm of snow expected. Light variable ridgetop wind. Freezing level rising to 1500 m.
More details can be found in the Mountain Weather Forecast.
