Alpine temperatures are forecast to climb to +10 on Tuesday! Check out the latest forecaster's blog post for advice on how to manage these changing conditions.
Weather Forecast
Tuesday: Mainly sunny with patchy valley fog. The above freezing layer (AFL) is expected to strengthen with temperatures rising to near +10 in the alpine. Winds are moderate from the northwest. Wednesday and Thursday: A mix of sun and cloud with valley fog. The AFL persists between 1000 and 2500 m, but temperatures should cool slightly. Winds are light to moderate from the northwest.
Avalanche Summary
Recent observations include several small natural and skier triggered wind slabs up to 20 cm deep from steep lee terrain. There was an accidentally triggered size 2 avalanche in the Spearhead Range near Whistler on Thursday. A thin wind slab was triggered near ridge top, which stepped down to a buried weak layer approximately 100 cm deep further down the slope. This event was suspected to have released on the early January surface hoar layer, which is present in this region as well.
Snowpack Summary
The snow surface consists of thin new wind slabs, a sun crust, dry snow, or feathery surface hoar depending on aspect and elevation. Below this 40-80 cm of settling storm snow sits on a layer of surface hoar, facetted snow, and /or a crust. Recent snowpack tests show that this interface is gaining strength but is likely still susceptible to human triggering with potential to propagate widely. No significant weaknesses have been reported recently below this in the mid snowpack layers. Near the base of the snowpack, a crust/facet layer exists, which is now unlikely to be triggered, except perhaps by heavy triggers in steep, shallow, rocky terrain where more facetting has taken place..
Problems
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.
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.
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.