The Avalanche Danger is expected to peak on Saturday night. If heavy snowfall and/or strong winds persist into Sunday, you should consider the Avalanche Danger to be HIGH.
Confidence
Moderate - Intensity of incoming weather systems is uncertain on Sunday
Weather Forecast
An unstable pacific air mass will continue to bring snowfall to the region. On Sunday, expect up to 20cm of snow with extreme southwest winds easing to moderate throughout the day. On Monday and Tuesday, a benign northwesterly flow will bring a mix of sun and cloud, and moderate northwesterly ridgetop winds. Freezing levels should hover around 800m for the forecast period.
Avalanche Summary
I would expect a healthy round of storm slab activity in response to new snow and wind forecast for Saturday and Sunday. The timing of the natural avalanche activity is tough to pin-down, although weather models suggest touchiest conditions will develop around midnight on Saturday. Even though the storm is expected to taper-off on Sunday, I would have serious concerns for ongoing human triggering of large new storm slabs, especially in higher-elevation, wind-exposed terrain.
Snowpack Summary
By Sunday morning I would expect up to 50cm of new snow to have fallen. Strong southwest winds will have redistributed the new snow into much deeper and potentially reactive storm slabs in lee terrain. This new snow will add to the 150cm of recent storm snow that has fallen in the high alpine over the last week. A hard rain crust can be found in the upper snowpack up to the 2200m elevation. Recent tests suggest an improving bond at this interface; however, I'd dig and test this layer before committing to any steeper lines.
Problems
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.