Choose simple terrain, and avoid large features. Warm temperatures and sun are forecasted to hit a complicated snowpack. It's a good time to make conservative decisions, and our recent forecasters' blog explains why.
Up to 20 cm of recent snow accompanied by strong winds and warmer temperatures formed reactive wind slabs.
This problem may be trending to dormant, but sun and warm temperatures all the way into the alpine could keep it active. Old slabs may be more reactive where they sit on surface hoar or crusts.
On top of all the other avalanche problems, sunny weather continues, and temperatures are forecasted to stay above 0 C at all elevations through Sunday morning at least.
Both cornices and wet loose avalanches may be a concern.
Avoid avalanche terrain and overhead hazard when it feels like the sun is packing a punch. Remember that even a small wet avalanche can be dense and may push you around more than expected.
Natural cornice fall is possible with upper elevation warming and solar radiation. Cornice fall could be a hazard on its own and it could trigger a deeper slab avalanche from the slope below.
The early December crust can be found 140-200 cm deep. A deep persistent slab problem could wake up with forecast warming, solar radiation, cornice fall, and step-downs from smaller avalanches.
A ridge of high pressure brings warming and sunny skies through the weekend. Alpine inversions may see temperatures as high as +5 degrees with some valley bottoms possibly seeing cloud and cooler air pooling at lower elevations.
Saturday Night: Clear. No new snow expected. Ridgetop winds moderate from the northwest. Freezing level around 3000 m, with a possibility of below 0 C temperatures between 500 m and 2000 m.
Sunday: Scattered clouds. Freezing levels rise through the day to 800 m, and an above freezing layer may stay in place, with alpine temperatures near +5 C between 2000 m and 3000 m. Possible inversion may hold valley cloud and cooler temperatures down low. Ridgetop winds moderate from the northwest. Expect cooling overnight.
Monday: Mix of sun and cloud. No new snow expected. Strong ridgetop wind from the northwest. Alpine temperatures -3 and freezing levels forecast to drop to valley bottom overnight, and back up to 750 m through the day.
Tuesday: Scattered clouds. No new snow expected. Light southwest wind trending to moderate northwest at higher elevations. Freezing level at valley bottom, rising to 500 m by the afternoon.
Most concerning is the warm weather this weekend. Warming, solar radiation, smaller surface avalanches, and cornice fall could trigger deep persistent slabs. This layer has been dormant but the forecasted weather has the potential to wake it up.
On Friday, several natural wind slab avalanches were reported in Kootenay Pass. They were mostly on northeast aspects at treeline.
On Thursday, numerous storm slab avalanches were reported up to size 2.
During the warm previous storm, mid-last week, a large widespread avalanche cycle occurred with most avalanches releasing within the storm snow and some on Jan 11 surface hoar layer. Strong solar radiation and warm temperatures were also at play after the storm, producing numerous avalanches at all elevations and scouring avalanche paths to the ground in places.
Incoming warm air may ride on top of colder air in the valleys, so the snowpack may experience above zero temperatures at higher elevations, where you may not expect them. Combine this with the potential for strong solar input, and the alpine snowpack could experience some rapid change for the worse.
10-20 cm of recent snow combined with strong winds has formed reactive wind slabs and buries a series of recent surface hoar layers and melt-freeze crusts found down 15 cm and another down 25 cm. These extend to 2400 m and are most prevalent (thicker) on southerly aspects.
Digging deeper, down 50-60 cm is yet another surface hoar layer that has seen recent avalanche activity. A well-consolidated mid-pack exists below this and above the early December crust/facet interface.
The early December crust/facet layer has been responsible for sporadic but very large, persistent slab avalanches over the past month. The crust is now buried 120-200 cm deep except in thin, wind-affected areas near ridgetops. Warming, cornice fall, and smaller avalanches through the forecast period may be enough to wake this layer up and initiate large to very large avalanches.
