Cornices may be weak and fall off naturally or be easy to trigger. Watch for lingering pockets of wind slab in the alpine.
Weather Forecast
Overcast with light winds and freezing at valley bottoms overnight. Overcast with light winds and a chance of flurries on Wednesday. Mix of sun and cloud on Thursday with alpine temperatures around -10 and light winds. Mix of sun and cloud on Friday with light winds and alpine temperatures around -5.
Avalanche Summary
One natural cornice fall size 2.0 released on a northeast aspect at 2100 metres. Some loose snow sloughing has also been reported.
Snowpack Summary
A dusting of light snow covers settled storm snow from last week. Last week's storm delivered 20-40 cm of heavy snow with freezing levels up to 1600 m. Crusts can be found near the surface on solar aspects at high elevations and on all aspects below 1600 m. The lower snowpack appears to be well settled. There have been isolated reports of surface hoar layers that formed in early January that may still exist about 40 cm deep in sheltered areas.
Problems
Wind Slabs
Wind Slab avalanches are the release of a cohesive layer of snow (a slab) formed by the wind. Wind typically transports snow from the upwind sides of terrain features and deposits snow on the downwind side. Wind slabs are often smooth and rounded and sometimes sound hollow, and can range from soft to hard. Wind slabs that form over a persistent weak layer (surface hoar, depth hoar, or near-surface facets) may be termed Persistent Slabs or may develop into Persistent Slabs.