Its cold out there, bring the extra puffy jacket! Recent strong N-E winds have reverse loaded terrain at and above treeline, expect widespread wind effect.
Weather Forecast
Sunny with cloudy periods, N winds to 20km/h and alpine highs of -18C. Cloudy with sunny periods into mid week with continued cold temperatures and winds shifting from northerly to westerly by Wednesday.
Snowpack Summary
Strong NE winds have formed reverse loaded cornices that have been failing and triggering size 2 avalanches. Widespread windslab can be expected in the alpine and exposed areas well into treeline. On solar aspects, a well developed crust is buried 40cm. Persistent weak layers from January and December are now buried 150-200cm.
Avalanche Summary
A dozen avalanches mostly in the size 2 range observed yesterday in the highway corridor. Two natural cornice triggered slides observed in Grizzly bowl this morning off of solar terrain. MIN report of a size 2 slab avalanche occurring in the alpine yesterday morning off a NE aspect of the Asulkan Glacier below Sapphire Col.
Confidence
Due to the number of field observations
Problems
Wind Slabs
Wind Slab avalanches are the release of a cohesive layer of snow (a slab) formed by the wind. Wind typically transports snow from the upwind sides of terrain features and deposits snow on the downwind side. Wind slabs are often smooth and rounded and sometimes sound hollow, and can range from soft to hard. Wind 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.
Persistent Slabs
Persistent Slab avalanches are the release of a cohesive layer of snow (a slab) in the middle to upper snowpack, when the bond to an underlying persistent weak layer breaks. Persistent layers include: surface hoar, depth hoar, near-surface facets, or faceted snow. Persistent weak layers can continue to produce avalanches for days, weeks or even months, making them especially dangerous and tricky. As additional snow and wind events build a thicker slab on top of the persistent weak layer, this avalanche problem may develop into a Deep Persistent Slab.