Expect to find variable wind affected surfaces at all elevations.
Strong southwest winds continue to strip away snow, creating wind loading on north and east facing slopes.
Extreme southwesterly winds have formed wind slabs on north and east facing slopes. Look carefully for windslabs at all elevations on slopes lee to the southwest. Pay particular attention to wind loading mid to low on slopes, and be wary of cross-loaded features.
A melt freeze crust from mid-January has shown some reactivity, small wind slabs may step down to this layer resulting in a bigger avalanche.
On Saturday, a few machine accidental wind slab avalanches were reported, up to size 1.5. A few small natural wind slab avalanches were also observed in the alpine.
On Friday, wind slabs were reactive to human traffic and explosive control, up to size 1 on all aspects.
Please post your field observations and photos on the Mountain Information Network. The information is beneficial to forecasters and fellow backcountry users.
Snow continues to be redistributed by southwest winds, forming fresh wind slabs at higher elevations. Exposed slopes at treeline and above may be stripped back to hard surfaces.
A melt-freeze crust with facets above, sits 50 to 100 cm deep. This crust could be a good sliding surface for avalanche activity. We are monitoring this layer going forward as it may become a persistent problem.
In general, we are not seeing the same basal weak layers that many of the neighboring regions are experiencing this season.
Sunday Night
Cloudy with isolated flurries, 2-5 cm accumulation. Westerley ridgetop wind 40-60 km/h. Freezing levels drop to the valley bottom. Alpine high of -9 °C.
Monday
Partly cloudy with isolated flurries, trace accumulation. Southwest ridgetop winds 20-30 km. Alpine high of -8 °C. Freezing levels 800 m.
Tuesday
Cloudy with isolated flurries, 2 cm accumulation. Light southwest ridgetop winds. Alpine high of -10 °C. Freezing levels valley bottom.
Wednesday
Partly cloudy with isolated flurries, trace accumulation. Light southwest ridgetop winds increase to strong through the day. Alpine high of -9 °C. Freezing levels valley bottom.
More details can be found in the Mountain Weather Forecast.
