Avalanche danger is expected to decrease as things dry out and cool off.
Confidence
Low - Due to the number of field observations
Weather Forecast
Wednesday: Cloudy with periods of wet snow or rain in the morning with freezing levels around 2000m, but becoming snow in the afternoon (5-10cm) as freezing levels drop to 1600m. Strong southwesterly ridgetop winds. Thursday: Increasing cloud with light snow flurries in the afternoon, freezing levels near valley bottoms and moderate southwesterly ridgetop winds. Friday: Cloudy with possible sunny breaks and a chance of flurries. Freezing levels near valley bottoms and moderate southwesterly ridgetop winds.
Avalanche Summary
Reports from Monday are limited, but include an isolated explosive-triggered Size 1 wind slab avalanche.
Snowpack Summary
Continued snowfall brings total treeline snowpack depths to around a metre, with even more in the alpine, but it diminishes quickly below treeline. Recent storm and wind slabs are bonding poorly to old snow surfaces including crusts, and/or a combination of facets and buried surface hoar. The early December surface is likely a crust down around 30-50cm. Below that a thick layer of facets is probably bonding poorly to the thick mid-November crust. We're receiving very little information from the region, so please consider sharing your observations via the Mountain Information Network.
Problems
Storm Slabs
Storm Slab avalanches are the release of a cohesive layer (a slab) of new snow that breaks within new snow or on the old snow surface. Storm-slabs typically last between a few hours and few days (following snowfall). Storm-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.