The good news...❄️ winter is back! ❄️ The bad news... storm snow may not bond well with the crust.
Dial back your terrain choices as storm snow accumulates this weekend.
The likelihood of avalanches on buried weak layers is decreasing, but we are uncertain how quickly. High-consequence slopes should be approached with caution.
Expect reactive conditions as storm slabs build over a crust. Watch for increased reactivity in wind affected areas where slabs will be deeper.
At low elevations, precipitation may fall as wet snow or rain.
Natural avalanche cycles continued throughout this week with rain, warming, and sunshine weakening the upper snowpack.
Moving forward avalanche activity will become more likely as storm snow accumulates.
Up to 20 cm of new snow is expected to accumulate over Saturday. This will fall over moist snow at low elevations, or over a crust at higher elevations.
A layer of facets (and small surface hoar in some areas) is buried 30-60 cm deep and a layer of facets on a crust is buried 80-100 cm deep. The cooling trend is expected to strengthen these layers, but we are uncertain how quickly this will happen.
Friday Night
Cloudy with up to 5 cm of snow expected. Light and variable winds. Freezing levels drop to around 1500 m.
Saturday
Cloudy with 10-20 cm of snow expected over the day. Freezing levels remain around 1500 m. Treeline temperatures around -2 °C. 20-50 km/hr easterly winds.
Sunday
By Sunday morning another 10 cm is possible. Freezing levels reach 1300 m again. Treeline temperatures around -4 °C. Southwest winds, 10-20 km/h.
Monday
A mix of sun and cloud with flurries possible. Freezing levels reach 1000 m over the day. Treeline temperatures around-2 °C. Southeast winds 20-40 km/h.
More details can be found in the Mountain Weather Forecast.
