Large amounts of new snow and extreme winds are loading up slopes at upper elevations. A natural avalanche cycle is expected over the next 24hrs+. Avoid avalanche terrain.
Intense wind transport on Monday is actively building wind slabs on all but West aspects. Some natural activity was observed, indicating that the slabs are touchy.
Due to large amounts of recent storm snow, dry loose avalanches could gain significant mass resulting in larger avalanches. Sluffing in steeper terrain could also trigger wind slabs on the slopes below.
Visibility was limited, but several naturally triggered wind slabs were observed. These slabs are 30 to 50cm deep and are mainly occurring on easterly aspects in the Alpine. The avalanches were mostly in the size 1.5 to 2.0 range, with one large size 3.0 noted from a distance. Increased avalanche activity is expected over the next 24-48hrs.
Between 15 and 35cm of new snow fell in the past 24 hours, with the larger amounts in the southern part of the forecast area. This adds to between 20 and 40cm of generally low density snow from an earlier storm. There is now 35 to 70cm overlying the Feb 14th layer of suncrust, surface hoar and old/or hard wind slabs. This interface is likely to be active over the next few days, as strong to extreme SW winds are actively building wind slabs at Treeline and above. Despite limited visibility, natural avalanche activity was noted on Monday with several slides in the size 1.5 to 2 range, and one size 3. See Avalanche Summary for more details.
Tuesday should be mainly sunny with a high of -7C. No precipitation is expected. Winds from the NW will start the day at 75km/h and decrease to the 50km/h range later in the day.
More details can be found in the Mountain Weather Forecast.
