Pull in the reins! Lots of new snow, but hazard is high. Human triggering of avalanches is very likely.
Freshly formed surface wind slabs could be as deep as 60-80cm and will be very sensitive to human triggering. Also watch for previously formed (now buried) wind slabs with failure planes deeper in the snowpack.
A lot of new load has been added to the snowpack. The deep weak layer of the Nov crust may become active.
Wednesday should be mainly sunny with a brisk -20c to start the day. Temperatures should rise to near -11c with winds out of the north in the light to moderate range. No new snow is expected.
Observations have been somewhat limited by poor visibility, but an avalanche cycle is occurring. Numerous slabs and loose dry avalanches up to size 2.5 have occurred in the past 24 hours. These are occurring at all elevations and on all aspects.
40 to 50cm of snow fell in a very short period of time, which has overloaded the snowpack. Winds were strong out of the north during the storm, so expect widespread wind slabs at Treeline and above. The Dec 8th layer of surface hoar/crust/facets remains on the radar, especially with this new load. The Nov rain crust is now deeply buried in the snowpack, and while it hasn't been reactive recently, it could easily wake up with the new snow load. Field observations were very limited today, and forecasters will be going out with eyes wide open on their next field day - the snowpack has experienced significant change!
