Avalanche Forecast

Fair - Intensity of incoming weather systems is uncertain on Sunday

Overnight & Sunday:5-10mm overnight, freezing levels rising to 800m with moderate to strong southerly winds. Cloudy with periods of sun during the day and a trace of precipitation. Freezing levels around 200m and alpine temperatures around -8. Moderate to strong southwest winds.Monday:Around 10cm expected overnight and trace amounts during the day. Mostly cloudy with moderate southerly winds, and freezing levels rising to 500m.Tuesday: Another 5cm expected during the day with moderate winds, freezing levels rising to 500m in the late afternoon.

Very touchy and reactive conditions were reported Friday, with surprisingly large propagation even on low angle (20 degree) slopes. Numerous explosive and naturally triggered avalanches up to size 3 reported across the region. The weak layers of buried surface hoar and facets are proving to be reactive to skier traffic with several accounts of whumphing settlements and skier controlled avalanches to size 1.5.

The region has received around 60-80cm of storm snow recently which overlies a variety of facets, surface hoar, crusts, hard windslabs, or any combination of these. Reports from the field indicate an extremely poor bond between the new snow and these old surfaces. Snowpack tests at all elevation bands show large propagation potential, and easy, sudden planar results. Southwesterly winds have added cohesion to the new storm slab and created sensitive windslabs up to 1.5m+ thick in lee terrain. Cornices have likely grown and could be prone to failing over the next few days. The mid and lower snowpack is generally strong and well-settled. Basal facets and depth hoar are likely to exist near the bottom of the snowpack in some parts of the region, but triggering has become unlikely.