Heightened avalanche conditions exist on wind-loaded slopes after strong outflow winds have hammered the region.
Recent outflow wind has left slabs on west and south facing slopes in the alpine and near ridgetops at treeline. These slabs could remain reactive to human-triggering for a few more days.
TUESDAY NIGHT: Partly cloudy skies, no precipitation, 30-50 km/h wind from the northeast, treeline temperature drop to -15 C.
WEDNESDAY: Mostly sunny, no precipitation, 20-40 km/h wind from the northeast, treeline temperatures reach -10 C.
THURSDAY: Sunny, no precipitation, light wind from the northeast, treeline temperatures reach -7 C.
FRIDAY: Mostly sunny, light wind from the east, treeline temperatures reach -5 C.
Early reports from Tuesday suggest the strong outflow wind caused some large natural avalanches in steep terrain near Stewart. Over the weekend there were a few large natural cornice, wind slab, and dry loose avalanches (size 2-2.5), and one small human-triggered wind slab (size 1). While this past activity was focused on northeast-facing slopes, the wind slab problem has since shifted to west aspects.
Open terrain has been affected by strong outflow wind that has scoured east-facing slopes and loaded snow onto west-facing slopes. Sheltered areas may still have soft snow. Above 1200 m, 80 to 120 cm of settled storm snow rests on a hard melt-freeze crust from late March. The snow has been bonding to this crust.
Note that cornices are very large and exposure to them should be minimized, especially during warm or windy weather.
