Winds and solar heating have continued to produce avalanche activity with the snow from last weekend. Avalanche danger will stay elevated until this snow stabilizes and temperatures cool.
Weather Forecast
Friday should be a mix of sun and cloud but with strong westerly winds and freezing level climbing to ridgetop. Saturday could see up to 5mm of precipitation, starting late in the day, with freezing level dropping down to valley bottom as the snow tapers off Sunday morning. Sunday will clear off and temperatures will start rising again.
Snowpack Summary
Surface temperature and solar crusts now exist to ridge top on S and E slopes and only to 2000m on N and W slopes. Below the storm slab from the weekend there is a new crust which will support a boot only once you reach 1900m. The strong southwesterly winds have picked up and with the snow from the W slopes are contributing to the slab development.
Avalanche Summary
Good visibility today showed evidence of previous widespread loose dry avalanches and storm slab avalanches from treeline and above which resulted in substantial moist debris piles as they reached lower elevations. Loose wet activity has been focused on mainly E and S slopes but will become more widespread as heating continues into the weekend.
Confidence
Freezing levels are uncertain
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.
Loose Wet
Loose Wet avalanches are the release of wet unconsolidated snow or slush. These avalanches typically occur within layers of wet snow near the surface of the snowpack, but they may quickly gouge into lower snowpack layers. Like Loose Dry Avalanches, they start at a point and entrain snow as they move downhill, forming a fan-shaped avalanche. Other names for loose-wet avalanches include point-release avalanches or sluffs. Loose Wet avalanches can trigger slab avalanches that break into deeper snow layers.
Deep Persistent Slabs
Deep Persistent Slab avalanches are the release of a thick cohesive layer of hard snow (a slab), when the bond breaks between the slab and an underlying persistent weak layer deep in the snowpack. The most common persistent weak layers involved in deep, persistent slabs are depth hoar or facets surrounding a deeply buried crust. Deep Persistent Slabs are typically hard to trigger, are very destructive and dangerous due to the large mass of snow involved, and can persist for months once developed. They are often triggered from areas where the snow is shallow and weak, and are particularly difficult to forecast for and manage.