Danger on SOUTH and WEST facing slopes could be CONSIDERABLE in the afternoon.
Weather Forecast
Tuesday: Expect a clear, sunny day. Alpine temperatures should climb to around -3 with freezing levels reaching 1500m. Winds should be light from the east.Wednesday: Expect clouds to build through the day with alpine temperatures reaching -5 and winds turning southwesterly and increasing slightly in value. Freezing levels could reach 1400m with possible flurries late in the day.Thursday: Mixed skies are likely with temperatures reaching -2 and freezing levels climbing to 1600m. Expect light westerly winds and a chance of isolated flurries.
Avalanche Summary
The recent storm snow continues to be reactive to rider triggering and explosive testing but the size of the events has dropped to predominantly size 1.0. These avalanches are failing predominantly in wind loaded features on north through northeast aspects.
Snowpack Summary
Recent convective snowshowers (from Thursday to Sunday) have deposited up to 40cm of new storm snow in some locations. The surface snow is going moist on all aspects up to 1800m and continues moist into the alpine on solar aspects due to strong solar inputs. The underlying storm snow has settled into small soft slabs and the interface with this new snow is predominantly crusts (sun, wind and/or meltfreeze crusts). The bonds at this interface are improving but where the crusts are smooth the bonding is still questionable. In high alpine start zones, these surface slabs are stiffer and may have more propensity for propagation.Last weeks's storm deposited about 50cm of snow and was accompanied by moderate to strong south/southwest winds. Dense windslabs are now buried, but may still be reactive in isolated alpine lee features to large triggers. About 70cm below the surface you will likely find a melt-freeze crust from previous sunny weather. At the same interface spotty surface hoar lingers on high, sheltered north facing terrain. Where present, this surface hoar continues to yield sudden results in stability tests.Cornices are huge and have fresh tabs from the recent storm snow.
Problems
Loose Wet
Loose Wet avalanches are the release of wet unconsolidated snow or slush. These avalanches typically occur within layers of wet snow near the surface of the snowpack, but they may quickly gouge into lower snowpack layers. Like Loose Dry Avalanches, they start at a point and entrain snow as they move downhill, forming a fan-shaped avalanche. Other names for loose-wet avalanches include point-release avalanches or sluffs. Loose Wet avalanches can trigger slab avalanches that break into deeper snow layers.
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.
Cornices
Cornice Fall is the release of an overhanging mass of snow that forms as the wind moves snow over a sharp terrain feature, such as a ridge, and deposits snow on the downwind (leeward) side. Cornices range in size from small wind drifts of soft snow to large overhangs of hard snow that are 30 feet (10 meters) or taller. They can break off the terrain suddenly and pull back onto the ridge top and catch people by surprise even on the flat ground above the slope. Even small cornices can have enough mass to be destructive and deadly. Cornice Fall can entrain loose surface snow or trigger slab avalanches.