Summary
Confidence
Poor - Intensity of incoming weather is uncertain
Weather Forecast
Sunday night and Monday: The ridge of high pressure that has brought cold temperatures lately is being replaced by a warm front pushing in the interior at the end of the day making temperatures warm up significantly, bringing freezing levels unseasonably high and an inversion will keep the peaks above zero degrees as well. Cloud cover should also dissipate in the alpine with some mid-level clouds. Winds are forecasted to be strong from the Northwest.Tuesday: Similar situation for Tuesday with alpine temperatures being well above normal and strong sun radiation. Winds are expected to be strong from the Southwest.Wednesday: Temperatures should start cooling in the alpine and a couple disturbances could bring some light precipitation with light Southwest winds.
Avalanche Summary
Numerous glide cracks and a few size 2 avalanches were reported at treeline and below treeline.
Snowpack Summary
The upper snowpack instabilities will most likely become unstable again with the rapid warming that has already started and additional solar radiation on Tuesday. The trigger of a surface instability could step down to the deeper persistent instability creating bigger avalanches. Read the
forecaster's blog to learn more about this process. Indeed, the 25 cm of last week's snow is sitting over a weak, faceted old snow surface and a surface hoar layer in some areas. Loose dry sluffing is likely in steep terrain sheltered from the wind. In wind-affected areas, wind slabs have formed behind terrain breaks such as ridges and ribs. A strong mid-pack overlies a weak base layer of facets and the remnants of a crust.
slemieux,
Avalanche Canada
