Looks like a more stable weather pattern for the next few days through Christmas.
Weather Forecast
MONDAY NIGHT: Mostly cloudy with some clear breaks, light wind, treeline temperature -5, freezing level in the valley bottom.TUESDAY: Mostly cloudy, light southeast wind, treeline temperature -4 C, freezing level 500 m.WEDNESDAY: Cloudy with isolated flurries, light to moderate southwest winds, treeline temperature -3 C, freezing level 600 m.THURSDAY: Mix of sun and cloud, light west winds, treeline temperature -7 C, freezing level in the valley bottom.
Avalanche Summary
Reports from Sunday indicate several explosive and skier controlled size 1-1.5 storm slab avalanches with a few explosives controlled storm slabs running to size 2, 20-50cm deep.
Snowpack Summary
Around 30 to 40 cm of snow fell during Saturday night and Sunday's storm. The snow fell with southwest winds, likely forming wind slabs in lee terrain features. Below around 1800 m, the snow fell onto a melt-freeze crust formed by rain from Thursday's storm. It may take a bit of time for the new snow to bond to underlying surfaces.A weak layer of facets and surface hoar lies below storm snow, generally around 150 to 200 cm deep. There hasn't been reports of avalanches on this layer for over a week. That being said, this layer may still exist in isolated areas around treeline in some portions of the region.At the base of the snowpack, weak and sugary facets are found below an early-season melt-freeze crust. This weak layer has been the culprit for sporadic, very large avalanches in alpine terrain in the past few weeks. The avalanches have occurred in areas where the ground roughness is very smooth, for example glaciers, firn, and shale/rock slab slopes. An avalanche could be triggered in this layer with a very large trigger, such as a cornice fall.
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.