Avoid avalanche terrain on Tuesday. The snowpack is complex and under stress from new snow and wind-loading.
Buried weak layers are most concerning at treeline elevations. Small avalanches may step down to this layer resulting in very large destructive avalanches. These avalanches may also be triggered remotely.
New snow and wind will form widespread and reactive storm slabs on Monday night. Older storm and wind slabs from the weekend may also be reactive.
There were numerous size 2 slab avalanches triggered by riders in the Whistler area on Sunday. They mostly occurred within recent storm snow, with crown depths of 40 to 80 cm. Explosive control also produced a few very large (size 3 to 4) avalanches that failed on the early February persistent weak layer.
Another round of storm slab avalanches is expected Monday night into Tuesday.
Fresh storm slabs will form Monday night into Tuesday, as 20 to 30 cm of new snow with strong wind is expected. This adds to the 60 to 120 cm of storm snow from the weekend, which may not yet be settled and bonded. Alpine terrain is heavily wind-affected.
A weak layer composed of facets on a crust is buried 100 to 200 cm deep. This layer remains sensitive to both human and natural triggers and is capable of producing very large avalanches.
Monday Night
Flurries with 10 to 20 cm of snow. 60 km/h south ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -5 °C.
Tuesday
Flurries easing midday with 10 cm of snow in the morning then cloudy in the afternoon. 25 km/h southwest ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -4 °C.
Wednesday
Mix of sun and cloud. 20 km/hr southwest wind. Treeline temperature -3 °C with freezing level rising to 1200 m.
Thursday
Mostly sunny. 15 km/hr northwest wind. Treeline temperature +5 °C with freezing level rising to 3000 m.
More details can be found in the Mountain Weather Forecast.
