Warm temperatures overnight may prevent a good re-freeze. Check for 'crust recovery' and be off slopes before they turn mushy or wet.
Cornices are large and fragile. The likelihood of them failing increases with each day of warm temperatures. Any release could be catastrophic.
Warm air and the sun can pack a punch, causing loose wet avalanches that may entrain recent snow and travel far. Keep in mind that any snowpack can quickly loose strength when heat penetrates to deeper layers. Check for good overnight recovery - avoid slopes that do not get an overnight re-freeze.
SUNDAY NIGHT: Mostly clear with incoming cloud cover, increasing 15-25 km/h southwest wind, alpine low temperature -2 C. Poor overnight re-freeze expected with freezing level hovering above 2100 m.
MONDAY: Mix of sun and cloud with isolated flurries, accumulation to 5 cm, 20-30 km/h southwest wind, alpine high temperature +4 C, freezing level reaching 2500 m.
TUESDAY: Wet flurries, 5-10 cm. Light to moderate southwest wind, alpine high temperature +1 C, daytime freezing level rising around 2000 m.
WEDNESDAY: Scattered flurries, 5 cm. West wind gusting to 60 km/h, alpine high temperature +6 C, daytime freezing level rising above 1900 m.
A few small (size 1) skier-triggered slabs occurred Thursday, about 30 cm deep and sliding on a crust. Then on Friday, numerous wet loose avalanches were triggered by warm temperatures on Friday. In some cases, these wet loose avalanches triggered slabs to size 2 (similar to Thursdays skier-triggered slabs), with 30 cm crown depths.
Please consider posting your observations to the Mountain Information Network to supplement our data stream and help fellow recreationists.
Sun and warm temperatures have moistened the snow upwards of 2500 m and on all sun-exposed slopes. Cold, dry snow persists on more north-facing and shaded aspects in the high alpine; in these areas use caution entering steep, and extreme terrain, where lingering wind slabs could be found. At ridge top, remember that cornices are large and looming.
Around 100 to 200 cm deep, faceted grains persist around a hard melt-freeze crust from early December. There's uncertainty on if and when this layer will wake up, but it could during the next intense or prolonged warm-up. Check this recent MIN out, it's possible this could be a deep persistant avalanche.
