Start with small slopes, and watch for signs of instability like shooting cracks as you move into wind-exposed terrain.
Be cautious as you gather information after this warm, stormy period.
Moderate to strong southwest wind is likely redistributing recent storm snow into reactive wind slabs on north and east facing terrain. These slabs also may not be bonding to a crust that formed as temperatures dropped.
A widespread, natural avalanche cycle up to size 2.5 likely occurred on all aspects through the warm and stormy period this weekend.
Looking forward to Wednesday, we expect that human-triggered avalanches will be likely anywhere that wind is redistributing dry snow into thicker, more reactive slabs, potentially over a hard, slippery crust. North and east-facing features are currently the most likely to be wind-loaded.
Storm snow totals around 35-50 cm by the end of the day Tuesday. With only road elevation weather stations and a lack of liquid precipitation measurements available, this is a loose estimate.
Freezing levels were up to 1700 m over the weekend but they have started to drop, resulting in a frozen crust or wet snow at the surface, or under fresh, dry snow.
Strong southerly alpine winds have likely formed touchy slabs at upper elevations on north and east facing terrain.
A buried weak layer of surface hoar and facets has been found in isolated locations 45-70 cm below the surface. There is potential for the recent precipitation and warm temperatures to overload this layer triggering large avalanches.
Tuesday Night
Partly cloudy. No new snow expected. Strong southwest ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature around -10°C.
Wednesday
Increasing cloud through the day. 1-2 cm of snow expected. Light variable ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature around -12°C.
Thursday
Mostly cloudy. 5-10 cm of snow expected. Light south or southwest ridgetop wind. Treeline low around -17 °C.
Friday
Partly cloudy. 1-2 cm of snow expected. Light southwest ridgetop wind. Treeline low around -25 °C.
More details can be found in the Mountain Weather Forecast.
