The extended period of sunny weather is finally coming to an end. Cloudy skies will contribute to a "tightening" of the snowpack overnight, but watch for small amounts of new snow and the slight possibility of rain tomorrow afternoon.
Confidence
Fair - Intensity of incoming weather is uncertain
Weather Forecast
A change is finally in the air. Wednesday is expected to be a cloudy day with light flurries and moderate west winds. Accumulations should be less than 10cm and rain is possible at lower elevations in the afternoon. Temperatures in the alpine near -7 and freezing levels will reach 2200m late in the day. Thursday night and Friday could see another wave of precipitation.
Avalanche Summary
Several solar triggered slides were observed again today up to size 2.5. These avalanches were in the form of loose wet sluffs, wet slabs and cornice failures that triggered avalanches on the underlying slopes. In shallow snowpack areas avalanches are scrubbing down to ground.
Snowpack Summary
Little change recently in the snowpack. Crusts are widespread on East, South and West aspects and melting during the day at varying intervals based on aspect and elevation. True North aspects hold dry snow, but only at higher elevations. Cornices are large and sagging.
Problems
Cornices
Cornice Fall is the release of an overhanging mass of snow that forms as the wind moves snow over a sharp terrain feature, such as a ridge, and deposits snow on the downwind (leeward) side. Cornices range in size from small wind drifts of soft snow to large overhangs of hard snow that are 30 feet (10 meters) or taller. They can break off the terrain suddenly and pull back onto the ridge top and catch people by surprise even on the flat ground above the slope. Even small cornices can have enough mass to be destructive and deadly. Cornice Fall can entrain loose surface snow or trigger slab avalanches.
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.