Expect wind slab development and reactivity to continue as cold temperatures persist through the week.
Small avalanches on the surface have the potential to scrub down to deeper instabilities, creating larger than expected avalanches.
Winds are redistributing the recent low-density snow into potentially reactive windslabs. With cold temperatures windslabs will likely take longer then usual to stabilize and bond to the underlaying surfaces.
Remember that small wind slabs on the surface could scrub down to deeper weak layers in the snowpack, resulting in bigger then expected avalanches.
Weak layers consisting of surface hoar, facets and crusts, buried early in the season remain a concern despite the lack of current avalanche activity. They are buried down roughly 40 to 100 cm from the surface. Watch as the overlaying snow gains cohesion and could make these layers more reactive.
No new avalanches have been reported in the last few days.
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Up to 10cm of recent, low-density snow continues to facet with cold temperatures. Surface snow is cold, light, and ideal to be redistributed by wind into drifts and stiff wind slabs. The new snow overlays an upper snowpack generally made up of old, settled wind-affected snow and a crust on solar aspects.
Deeper in the snowpack a widespread crust buried in late November is roughly buried 40-100 cm below the surface. Weak facetted crystals are found immediately above and below this crust.
Total snow depths remain low for December with about 90 to 140 cm at treeline and up to 200 cm in the alpine.
Monday night
Cloudy with snow, up to 5 cm. Temperatures around -20 C and moderate Southwesterly winds in the alpine.
Tuesday
Cloudy with snow, up to 10 cm. Temperature -15 to -25 C and moderate Westerly winds in the alpine.
Wednesday
Sunny with periods of cloud, and no precipitation. Temperatures -15 to -25 C and light to moderate Northeast winds.
Thursday
Sunny with periods of cloud, and no precipitation. Temperatures -15 to -25 C and light Northeast winds.
More details can be found in the Mountain Weather Forecast.
