Remain cautious in wind-affected terrain at upper elevations.
Wind slabs have been reactive in the region.
Wind slabs have formed on leeward northerly through easterly slopes at upper elevations. The most likely areas for triggering will be steep and convex slopes at upper elevations, or where slabs overlie surface hoar.
A crust with weak facets and/or depth hoar exists at the base of the snowpack in many areas. This layer is most likely to be triggered in thin snowpack areas less than a meter deep, or with very heavy loads.
On Friday, two size 1-1.5 storm slabs were reported in this MIN post, and a small wind slab ski cut was reported in this MIN post.
On Wednesday, a size 1 wind slab was accidentally triggeredby a skier on a northwest-facing treeline slope. A size 2 naturally triggered wind slab occurred on the same aspect, but in the alpine.
Looking forward: We expect wind slabs to remain triggerable on Sunday.
Wind slabs have formed at upper elevations on leeward slopes.
Around 30 cm of snow overlies surface hoar in wind-sheltered terrain, and a sun crust on steep south-facing slopes.
A melt-freeze crust buried in mid-December can be found down around 60 cm. This layer is most prevalent at treeline elevations and below.
A persistent weak layer consisting of a thick melt-freeze crust, with weak faceted snow and/or depth hoar, can be found near the ground.
Saturday Night
Mostly clear skies. 30 km/h west ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -6 °C.
Sunday
Mix of sun and clouds. 0 to 5 cm of snow. 20 km/h southwest ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -5 °C.
Monday
Mostly cloudy. 0 to 5 cm of snow. 30 km/h west ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature 0 °C. Freezing level around 2100 m.
Tuesday
Mix of sun and clouds. 20 km/h west ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature 2 °C. Freezing level around 2600 m.
More details can be found in the Mountain Weather Forecast.
