At last, a weather system that seems to be willing to bring us snow without ending up with an episode of rain! Remember that in many places, we had a snow cover of just a few centimetres, so natural obstacles may still be very close to the surface.
The extent of the avalanche problem will be determined by the amount of snow that falls on Tuesday night. The problem is less likely to occur on the southern and eastern slopes, which were stripped of snow during the last high winds. What's more, the new snow is unlikely to have a good grip on the old surface, which is hard and compact. Assess your slope carefully before starting out.
No new avalanche was reported or observed. If you go into the backcountry, thanks for sharing your observations at [email protected] or on the Mountain Information Network (MIN).
The distribution of the snow cover is extremely variable, ranging from 5 to 180 cm. The snow we should receive by Friday will improve things. In the alpine and at treeline, the southern and eastern slopes are bare of snow due to the strong winds of the last storm. The snow has been redistributed to the north-western and northern slopes. On these slopes, there are windslabs resting on facets that developed on the New Year's crust.
Below tree line, there is between 15 and 80 cm of very dense snow on the ground, making skiing possible in some places. The bottom and natural obstacles, however, remain very close.
Synopsis: A winter storm will hit the Gaspé Peninsula on Tuesday night. This time, temperatures are expected to remain cold, and we should receive 15 to 20 cm of snow tonight, and a further 5 to 10 cm by Friday. Areas further east, such as Murdochville, could receive up to 40 cm.
Tuesday evening and night : Cloudy. 15 to 20 cm of snow. Wind northeast, 30 to 50 km/h. Maximum -7C.
Wednesday: Cloudy. 2 to 4 cm of snow. Wind northwest, 30 to 40 km/h. Maximum -10C.
Thursday: Cloudy. 5 to 10 cm of snow. Wind west, 20 to 30 km/h. Maximum -15C.
Friday: Alternating sun and cloud. Wind northwest, 10 to 20 km/h. Maximum -15C.
For more details, check out the most recent alpine weather forecast.
