Avalanche Forecast

Moderate

First things first. The amount of MINS that are getting submitted with great information regarding avalanche activity and snow conditions has been great to see, so thank you!

Field teams out in Burstall pass today noted two new Size 2 windslabs on NE aspects at treeline elevations. These did not run all that far, but were crisp and had most likely happened this morning. It was snowing hard all day up there with temps hovering around 0°.

The upper snowpack up to 2400m was moist in the afternoon today, If the temps cool off enough overnight there will be a wide spread crust on all aspects up to that elevation. The upper snowpack continues to settle, bond and strengthen. The warm temps and continuous snow makes it feel like things are improving. However don't forget the structure in which this new snow is sitting on. It is weak, faceted and can not be trusted. Snowpack tests are easily repeatable with sudden collapse results. Red flags such as whumpfs and cracking are becoming less frequent. This is due to the upper snowpack gaining height and stiffening up, thus not disturbing the weak layers below. Dig down and have a look at the lower snowpack.

General weather update: Warm weather is coming with very high freezing levels. Upto 3000m on Wednesday

Tuesday: Cloudy with sunny periods and isolated flurries.

No new snow is expected, but it is the season for convective squalls to come through the region and have rapid accumulation in short periods.

West winds 40km/h

Freezing levels to 2200m, if the sun pokes out you can expect that to increase.

More details can be found in the Mountain Weather Forecast.

• Watch for newly formed and reactive wind slabs as you transition into wind-affected terrain.
• Avoid exposure to overhead avalanche terrain; avalanches may run surprisingly far.
• Keep in mind that human triggering may persist as natural avalanches taper off.