Warm overnight temperatures and sun in the forecast should allow for a quick ramp up to heightened loose wet avalanche conditions on Tuesday. Check out our 'All Melt No Freeze' spring scenario for advice on managing these conditions.
With clear skies and a high freezing level forecast for Wednesday, expect loose wet avalanches to run in steep terrain facing the sun. Surface crusts are likely to break down quickly with overnight temperatures near or above freezing.
In most places rain from Saturday has likely made the surface snow moist or wet except for the highest elevation alpine. If there has been a good overnight freeze, there may be a supportive crust on the surface. The mid and lower snowpack pack are likely a mixture of moist snow and crusts. Below treeline the snowpack has melted or is isothermal.
Tuesday night: Cloudy with clear periods and a chance of isolated flurries bringing a trace to 5 cm of new snow. Light west winds. Freezing levels dropping from 2500 to 2000 metres.
Wednesday: Mainly sunny with cloud decreasing over the day. Light west winds. Alpine high temperatures around +1 with freezing levels to 2500 metres, dropping to 1600 metres overnight.
Thursday: Mainly sunny. Light southwest winds. Alpine high temperatures around +3 with freezing levels to 2500 metres, dropping to 2000 metres overnight.
Friday: Increasingly cloudy with flurries beginning early in the day and continuing overnight. Up to 5 cm of new snow accumulating by end of day. Light southwest winds. Alpine high temperatures around -5 with freezing levels dropping to 1700 metres during the day and 1400 metres overnight.
No new avalanches have been reported in the region. After several consecutive nights of weak overnight cooling, we can expect loose wet avalanche activity to increase rapidly during any periods of strong sunshine.
Please submit your observations to the Mountain Information Network.
