New snow and wind will mean that storm slabs are likely to be encountered, and may be reactive to human triggering, especially in wind loaded areas.
Confidence
Moderate - Timing, track, or intensity of incoming weather system is uncertain
Weather Forecast
FRIDAY NIGHT - Flurries, 5-15 cm / southerly winds, 20-40 km/h / alpine low temperature near -6SATURDAY - Mainly cloudy with scattered flurries, 5 cm / southwest winds, 20-50 km/h / alpine high temperature near -4 / freezing level 1700 mSUNDAY - Cloudy with flurries, 5-10 cm / southeast winds, 15-35 km/h / alpine high temperature near -4 / freezing level 1700 mMONDAY - Cloudy with sunny periods and isolated flurries / west winds, 10-20 km/h / alpine high temperature near -4 / freezing level 1900 m
Avalanche Summary
Reactive storm slabs may be found at upper elevations. On Thursday, there were reports of a few natural, human and explosives triggered storm slab avalanches up to size 1.5, as well as a few size 1 loose wet avalanches.On Tuesday, there was a report of one size 2 natural loose wet avalanche on a south aspect at 2400 m.
Snowpack Summary
15-30 cm of recent storm snow sits on a melt-freeze crust on all aspects except for north facing slopes above 2000 m, where it sits on dry snow and surface hoar (feathery crystals). Recent snowfall amounts taper quickly below treeline.Snow is disappearing rapidly at lower elevations.
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.