Pay close attention to how the new snow is bonding to the old snow surfaces. Avalanche danger will increase rapidly on sunny slopes, if the sun makes an appearance on Tuesday.
Confidence
Low - Timing or intensity of solar radiation is uncertain on Tuesday
Weather Forecast
We're in between storm systems for the next two days. More snow (10cm+) on Thursday. TUESDAY: Cloudy with sunny breaks and scattered flurries. Light to moderate westerly winds. Alpine temperature +2 C. Freezing level 1700 m.WEDNESDAY: Cloudy with sunny breaks and scattered flurries. Light to moderate westerly winds. Alpine temperature +3 C. Freezing level 1900 m.THURSDAY: Snow (10 cm). Moderate southerly winds. Alpine temperature +3 C. Freezing level 2000 m.
Avalanche Summary
On Monday we received reports of several natural size 1.5 dry loose avalanches, and confined to the recent storm snow. On Friday and Saturday, several small wet loose avalanches to size 1.5 were reported on sunny aspects at all elevations. A size 1.5 natural cornice failure was also reported on a high north east facing ridge line, which did not trigger any slabs below.
Snowpack Summary
10-12cm of new snow fell Sunday overnight into Monday. This new snow sits on a wide variety of old surfaces: a melt-freeze crust on sunny aspects, or surface hoar (up to 30mm in size) and/or dry snow on north aspects above 1500-1800m.Deeper in the snowpack, the mid-December and late-November weak layers are composed of crusts and sugary facets, which are down 150-300 cm. These layers have been dormant but may be awoken by a large trigger, such as a cornice fall, or by humans traveling in thin-to-thick snowpack areas.
Problems
Storm Slabs
Storm Slab avalanches are the release of a cohesive layer (a slab) of new snow that breaks within new snow or on the old snow surface. Storm-slabs typically last between a few hours and few days (following snowfall). Storm-slabs that form over a persistent weak layer (surface hoar, depth hoar, or near-surface facets) may be termed Persistent Slabs or may develop into Persistent Slabs.
Loose Wet
Loose Wet avalanches are the release of wet unconsolidated snow or slush. These avalanches typically occur within layers of wet snow near the surface of the snowpack, but they may quickly gouge into lower snowpack layers. Like Loose Dry Avalanches, they start at a point and entrain snow as they move downhill, forming a fan-shaped avalanche. Other names for loose-wet avalanches include point-release avalanches or sluffs. Loose Wet avalanches can trigger slab avalanches that break into deeper snow layers.