Strong SW winds are forecast for another day before cooler temps move into the region and snow falls. Expect to encounter wind affected snow in open areas at treeline and above. Drummy feeling slabs or cracking under your skies are good indicators of skier trigger-ability.
The recent snow and strong winds are building windslabs in alpine terrain and treeline areas. Forecasters were observing cracking while travelling along ridgelines on Saturday and with the more snow on sunday, we expect these slabs to continue to get more reactive.
Cornices are growing at this time with the new snow, strong winds and warm temps. If they fail, its likely they will trigger a windslabs or deep persistent slab on the underlying slopes.
There is a small chance the new load will overload the deep layers. We are expecting a significant rapid loading pulse early in the storm. Sparsely treed areas and thin crossloaded terrain are likely areas to cause trouble.
Light snow is forecast with continued strong winds out of the SW, and temperatures around -5C with a freezing level around 1800m
A few small windslabs up to sz 2 were observed on N and E aspects in alpine areas. Pinwheeling was also observed on steep solar aspects especially where the snowpack was thin and rocky.
Widespread windslabs can be expected in alpine terrain and down into treeline. Warm temps also made the snow moist on steep solar aspects and a few loose wet slides were observed later in the day. Sheltered arounds at treeline and below will hold hope for good skiing but these areas are trickier and trickier to find. Starting to feel like spring out there!
