Recent snow and strong winds in the alpine and treeline Friday night have formed deep pockets of touchy storm slab. Caution solar triggering of the new snow when the sun comes out Saturday morning.
40-60 cm of new snow followed by strong to extreme winds Friday night have likely formed deep pockets of storm slab in lee features in the alpine and treeline. The new snow will be sensitive to triggering when the sun comes out on Saturday.
Friday night: Heavy snowfall tapering overnight, accumulating 15-20 cm. Moderate to strong west winds. Alpine low temperatures around -10. Freezing levels dropping to valley bottom.
Saturday: Mix of sun and cloud with flurries starting in the pm bringing up to 30 cm of new snow overnight. Strong southwest winds. Alpine high temperatures around -5.
Sunday: Mix of sun and cloud with isolated flurries bringing 10 cm of new snow. Moderate west winds. Alpine high temperatures around -4.
Monday: Mostly cloudy with flurries bringing 10-20 cm of new snow. Strong northwest winds. Alpine high temperatures around -4.
A widespread avalanche cycle up to size 3 was reported from the neighboring Howson range during the storm on Friday. This cycle is likely to be ongoing throughout the southern part of the region where more than 40 cm of snow fell on Friday.
40-60 cm of new snow from the past 36 hours has been highly wind affected overnight by strong to extreme winds. Expect to find deep wind loaded pockets below ridgetops and the lee sides of features all the way down to treeline.
The new snow fell on a temperature crust up to treeline and extensive windslab at alpine and treeline elevations. The underlying snowpack is overall quite well consolidated, with an average depth of around 2 m. Two layers of surface hoar are now buried 80-150 cm deep but with a lack of recent associated avalanche activity, appear to be trending towards dormancy.
