Carefully assess conditions as you gain elevation. In wind exposed terrain above the freezing line, wind slabs are possible.
At low elevations, expect a new breakable crust to begin to form.
Recent wind slabs developed during a warm period and with the introduction of cooler weather are expected to have bonded reasonably well to the old surfaces.
On Friday near whistler, explosive avalanche control operations working the the alpine trigger two size 2 avalanches and numerous size 1 avalanches. They all failed within the storm snow, just above a buried hard melt-freeze crust from December 21st .
If you're heading out in the backcountry, please consider sharing any observations on the Mountain Information Network.
The recent storm delivered a range of snow depths, spanning from 10 to 20 cm. This new storm snow covers old wind slabs and crusts in the alpine, and wet surfaces at treeline and below.
At treeline and above two layers of note are buried around 30 to 70 cm deep. Both consist of a crust that tapers at higher elevations, and surface hoar in sheltered areas.
Overall, the snow depth remains shallow, with average treeline snowpack depths between 70 and 100 cm.
Saturday Night
Partly cloudy. A trace of snow expected. . Treeline temperature around -5 °C. Freezing level around 500 m. Light southwest ridgetop wind
Sunday
Periods of clearing. No new snow expected. Treeline temperature around 0 °C. Freezing level rising to 1000 m, possible temperature inversion. Moderate southwest ridgetop wind.
Monday
Cloudy. Snow and rain expected 5 to 10 cm . Freezing level rising to 1200-1500 m. Treeline temperature around 0 °C. Moderate gusting strong, south east ridgetop wind.
Tuesday
Mostly cloudy. Snow and rain expected 5 to 10 cm. Freezing level around 1500 m. Treeline low around -1°C. Moderate gusting strong, south east ridgetop wind.
More details can be found in the Mountain Weather Forecast.
