Strong wind and a bit of new snow may stiffen the snow surface and form wind slabs in exposed terrain. The most likely feature to trigger an avalanche would be on a steep slope immediately adjacent to a ridge.
Strong wind from the southwest is forecast for Tuesday along with some new snow. Use caution at and above treeline on lee slopes near ridges, particularly if you notice slab properties in the surface snow.
MONDAY NIGHT: Cloudy with isolated flurries, accumulation 1 to 3 cm, 20 to 40 km/h southwest wind, alpine temperature -9 C.
TUESDAY: Cloudy with snowfall, accumulation 5 to 10 cm, 40 to 80 km/h southwest wind, alpine temperature -8 C.
WEDNESDAY: Cloudy with light snowfall, accumulation 2 to 5 cm, 20 to 40 km/h southwest wind, alpine temperature -7 C.
THURSDAY: Cloudy with light snowfall, accumulation 10 to 20 cm, 40 to 60 km/h southwest wind, alpine temperature -5 C.
No recent avalanches have been observed in the region, except for some sluffing in steep terrain.
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Up to 30 cm of snow from last week overlies a hard melt-freeze crust formed in early December up to at least 2000 m. To date, this layer has not been an avalanche concern but use caution if you find cohesive snow above the crust, particularly if there are weak, sugary faceted grains immediately above the crust. Strong wind from the southwest is forecast on Tuesday along with a bit of new snow, which is expected to form new wind slabs above this crust.
Deeper in the snowpack there are a couple of hard melt-freeze crusts that formed in November. The concern would be if there were weak faceted grains around the crust, but there is uncertainty if and where in the region this may be a problem. Without any recent avalanche activity, it appears that this layer is dormant for the time being.
