A big change in the weather is coming. Temperatures will be near the freezing mark over the next few days. Triggering may be more easy as the snowpack adjusts to this warming.
Confidence
Moderate - Timing or intensity of solar radiation is uncertain
Weather Forecast
Finally the warm air seems to be on the way. Tuesday will be mainly cloudy with no precipitation expected. Alpine temperature will reach a high of 0 C, with ridge top winds near 15 km/h from the West. Freezing levels will climb to near 1900m by mid-week.
Avalanche Summary
Loose dry avalanches up to size 2.0 have been occurring in steep terrain on all aspects at all elevations in the past several days, but there was less activity today. No slab activity noted today, but a few have occurred in the past few days.
Snowpack Summary
Another cold night led to surface facetting. Previous storm snow is settling slowly. Alpine areas have a wide variety of wind slab conditions, including bullet-proof hard slab, recently formed soft slabs and buried wind slabs. At Treeline elevations expect isolated slabs, primarily around ridge-crests. Forecasters continue to track the Dec 15th surface hoar, but due to the lack of an overlying slab this layer has not been overly reactive.....yet. In the lower 1/3 of the snowpack the November and October rain crusts are facetting and remain on the radar for future potential avalanche problems.
Problems
Loose Dry
Loose Dry avalanches are the release of dry unconsolidated snow and typically occur within layers of soft snow near the surface of the snowpack. These avalanches start at a point and entrain snow as they move downhill, forming a fan-shaped avalanche. Other names for loose-dry avalanches include point-release avalanches or sluffs.
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.