A buried weak layer is causing storm slabs to remain sensitive to human triggering for longer than normal.
See the latest Forecaster Blog "Keeping a Conservative Mindset" for more details.
The recent storm snow is expected to be bonding poorly to underlying layers and storm slabs are expected to remain triggerable by riders. The most likely places to trigger an avalanche are convex rolls and wind-loaded terrain features.
On Sunday, a skier was involved in an avalanche on a northeast aspect at treeline in the Mount Cain area (MIN report).
Over the weekend, a variety of natural and skier-triggered storm slab avalanches up to size 2 were reported. Due to the underlying weak layer, storm slab avalanches are expected to remain sensitive to human triggering on Wednesday.
Around 30 to 60 cm of new snow has accumulated over the past few days. This storm snow is sitting on a hard melt-freeze crust in most areas and may also be sitting over a weak layer of facets and/or surface hoar on high north aspects. In wind-exposed terrain, the recent storm snow has been redistributed by moderate to strong southwest wind.
The mid and lower snowpack is well-settled and dense with no other layers of concern.
Tuesday Night
Partly cloudy with a chance of flurries. 20 to 30 km/h southeast ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -12 °C.
Wednesday
A mix of sun and cloud. 10 to 20 km/h south ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -7 °C.
Thursday
Mainly sunny. 10 to 20 km/h northwest ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -4 °C.
Friday
A mix of sun and cloud. 20 to 30 km/h northwest ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -3 °C.
More details can be found in the Mountain Weather Forecast.
