Avoid steep sun-exposed slopes during the heat of the day. Don't let your guard down with warm temperatures and sunny skies.
Confidence
Moderate - Timing or intensity of solar radiation is uncertain
Weather Forecast
Sunny and very warm by noon on Monday... and then very wet on Wednesday. MONDAY: Sunny, warming significantly with alpine highs to +10 Celsius / Moderate southeasterly winds / Freezing level around 3000 m (!) TUESDAY: Mostly cloudy with spotty showers / High temperatures to +7 Celsius / Light, southwesterly winds/ Freezing level around 2800 m. WEDNESDAY: Mix of sun and cloud / Moderate southerly winds / Freezing level around 2200m.
Avalanche Summary
No new observed.
Snowpack Summary
The snow from late last week (15-25cm) has consolidated well at treeline and below. This makes 50-70 cm of cumulative storm snow which is bonding well to a knife hard crust buried Feb 3rd. In the alpine, where all of the precipitation has fallen as snow, the storm slabs have taken longer to settle out and still are a concern: Dig down to test the bond of the more recent snow layers. The mid and lower snowpack are settled and well bonded with the average snowpack depth at treeline 250-300 cm.
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.
Storm Slabs
Storm Slab avalanches are the release of a cohesive layer (a slab) of new snow that breaks within new snow or on the old snow surface. Storm-slabs typically last between a few hours and few days (following snowfall). Storm-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.