Strong winds are making the upper snowpack more reactive as windslabs develop in most open areas. A storm with strong winds is forecast to reach the region on Monday.
Strong winds have created new slabs at treeline and alpine elevations. These will be sitting on loose facets and could be quite touchy.
Windslabs in the upper snowpack may step down to the Jan 29th interface down 50-80cm. Dig down and evaluate this interface as you travel.
Sunday will see the warm front with the associated precipitation begin to move into the region. There will only be minor accumulation on Sunday before the main mass of the storm arrives on Monday with 15-20cm of snow. Winds are still going to be strong out of the SW so as the storm begins to arrive we can expect avalanche danger to increase.
No new natural avalanche activity was observed on Saturday but conditions felt primed for human triggered avalanches due to the presence of these new windslabs.
The effects of the recent winds are noticeable with windslabs in open terrain at treeline and above. These windslabs are 10-20cm thick in areas travelled on Saturday but we can expect them to increase in depth and reactivity as winds continue overnight. Any windslab that starts in the upper snowpack will likely step down to the Jan 29th persistent interface down 40-60cm. Watch for these problems along ridgelines, and in lee terrain mainly on N and E aspects.
