Confidence
Fair - Wind speed or direction are uncertain
Weather Forecast
Synopsis: Continued northwesterly flow will bring light pulses of precipitation to the region interspersed with some dry patches.Tuesday night: 2-4 cm new snow.Wednesday: Flurries through the day. Treeline temperatures should peak around -2C. Northwesterly winds gusting to 40 km/h.Thursday: Flurries. Freezing level rising to around 1200 m. Light to moderate northwesterly winds.Friday: Dry. Temperatures around -6C at treeline. Light northwesterly winds.
Avalanche Summary
Small loose dry avalanches were reported on steep terrain on Tuesday. Explosive avalanche control on Monday produced loose avalanches that ran on the upper surface hoar layer and deeper slab avalanches (up to 100 cm deep) that ran on basal facets on very steep north-facing alpine slopes.
Snowpack Summary
Recent storm snow amounts over the past few days are 30 to 40 cm with as much as 60cm reported. Over the weekend, this low density storm snow started to settle into more of a cohesive slab, although little activity was reported through the weekend. Below the new snow is a suncrust on steep southerly facing slopes and a surface hoar layer at treeline and lower elevations (but it has a patchy distribution). Early January surface hoar is now around 60 - 80 cm deep and is reported to be patchy. It is most likely to be preserved on shady slopes below treeline.
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.