A low will start to influence the area with light precipitation Sunday afternoon that will build into heavier accumulations Monday.
The potential for a poor freeze, and possibly rain, may lead to a deterioration in the crusts BTL and maybe TL Monday.
Reactive alpine slabs have been encountered over that last few days. Although small in size, these could be enough to send travelers tumbling down a face or couloir. Expect this problem to increase on Monday with new snow and increasing SW winds.
Watch the recovery and freezing levels carefully each night. Consider the potential impacts of heating in the form of Sun and rain especially at lower elevations as the low takes hold Sunday afternoon.
A good freeze can be expected Sun AM under a brief ridge before a low pushes in through the afternoon. 5 cm of snow above about 1800m. A weaker freeze Mon AM as the low reaches the Rockies with 5-10 cm of snow overnight. SW winds will increase to moderate/strong with another 10-15 cm above 1900m. Rain is possible at lower elevations.
Trace amounts of new snow now sits over surface melt-freeze crusts that can be found on all aspects up to approx. 2300m and higher on solar aspects. On high elevation north aspects, deeper dry snow persists with isolated thin wind slabs in the alpine. The mid-pack is well settled but has several persistent layers consisting of crusts and/or facets.
Mistaya Lodge reported a sz 1.5 slab on a glacial ice feature, NE aspect , 30-40cm deep, that failed naturally within recent storm snow accumulations.
