Avalanche Forecast

Moderate - Intensity of incoming weather systems is uncertain

MONDAY NIGHT: Cloudy. Light snow with only a trace to a few centimetres. Moderate southwest wind.TUESDAY: Snow with 10 to 20 cm; higher amounts possible with localized showers (some lucky valley could see 30 cm). Moderate southwest wind. Treeline temperatures around -3 C.WEDNESDAY: Mix of sun and cloud. Drying out. Treeline temperatures remaining between -5 and zero. Light northeast wind.THURSDAY: Cloudy. Dry. Light west wind. Treeline temperatures between -5 and zero.

No new avalanches were reported on Friday or Saturday. Small loose wet avalanches are likely on south-facing slopes. Small dry loose avalanches are likely on steep terrain elsewhere. Slab avalanches are likely to be confined to extreme terrain features under current conditions.

Forecast snow is likely to form new wind and storm slabs.New snow buried a mix of hard and soft wind slabs in open alpine terrain as well as pockets of soft snow in sheltered and shaded areas. The new snow has also buried widespread sun crusts of varying thickness on south-facing slopes.The upper- and mid-pack is slowly weakening with cold temperatures and faceting. That means it's transforming into a "single layer" of more sugary faceted grains with various hardness. It's also progressively reducing the properties of an overlying slab above these weak layers and diminishing concern for their potential to produce avalanches.There are up to three layers of surface hoar within the top 100cm of the snowpack; however, they're disappearing and becoming less of a concern. Where they still exist, these layers are most likely to be found between 1600 and 1900 m with the top one the most prominent, about 50 cm below the surface.The lower snowpack is maintaining strength in deeper snowpack areas but I doubt that's the case in shallow areas.