Wind will continue to affect the storm snow at upper elevations.
The best and safest riding will be on slopes that have soft snow without any slab properties.
Ongoing snowfalls combined with sustained wind are forming reactive wind slabs in leeward terrain features at upper elevations. Use ridges or ribs to avoid areas of wind-loaded snow where triggering is most likely.
On Friday, explosive control work near Pine Pass produced size 2-3 wind slabs on reverse-loaded south to southwest aspects in the alpine. Evidence of previous natural activity (up to size 3) during the past storms was also reported in the Pine Pass area.
An additional 10 cm of new snow has accumulated on top of the previous storm snow, bringing the total to 40-70 cm. Wind has redistributed this storm snow over the crust formed mid-December that extends up to 1800 m near the Pine Pass area, and up to 2000 m near Highway 16.
A layer of surface hoar, facets, and/or a crust may be found buried around 110-140 cm deep. This layer has been observed to be gaining strength and is now even less likely to be triggered where bridged by the recent crust.
In thin snowpack areas, faceted grains or depth hoar may exist at the base of the snowpack.
Sunday Night
Mostly cloudy. 5 to 10 cm of snow. 50 km/h southeast ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -20 °C.
Monday
Mostly cloudy. 2 to 4 cm of snow in the afternoon. 40 km/h south ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -18 °C.
Tuesday
Mostly cloudy. 5 to 10 cm of snow. 40 km/h south ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -16 °C.
Wednesday
A mix of sun and clouds. 30 km/h south ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -14 °C.
More details can be found in the Mountain Weather Forecast.
