Forecasted snowfall amounts are highly varied. Keep a close eye on localized conditions. Hazard levels will increase with more snow load and moderate winds.
Confidence
Low - Timing, track, or intensity of incoming weather system is uncertain
Weather Forecast
Tuesday will be mostly cloudy, but precipitation forecasts vary considerably. Some models show 2 to 3cm of snow, while others are calling for up to 25cm. Winds will be moderate from the East, with Alpine temperatures near -6 °C. Precipitation amounts continue to be inconsistent for the remainder of the week.
Avalanche Summary
A few loose dry avalanches up to size 1.5 observed in the Alpine today, primarily in steep un-skiable terrain.
Snowpack Summary
An additional 10cm of new snow at Treeline overnight. This sits on a supportive crust on solar aspects and on all aspects below 2100m. On sheltered polar aspects above 2100m recent snow falls now sit at 25 to 30cm, which sluffs easily with ski cutting in steep terrain. Isolated pockets of wind slab were observed in the Alpine. Surface snow was moist by late morning on direct solar aspects at 2500m, and at lower elevations moist snow was observed on all aspects. The basal facets are still lurking and have produced moderate sudden collapse shears in recent stability tests. Despite it starting to look like spring, the snowpack in the Alpine is still very much winter like. Remember any slope that hasn't yet released has the potential to fail deep in the snowpack resulting in a large avalanche.
Problems
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.
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 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.