Expect to see some snow on Tuesday along with westerly winds.
A fresh layer of wind slab is expected to build overtop of the previous hard windslabs, which are widespread in alpine areas and even down into treeline. Listen for that drummy or hollow feel as an indication to be extra careful.
The November crust continues to be the main concern in the snowpack. Any avalanche in the upper snowpack will likely scrub down to these layers
Finally, I can use the "SNOW" word. Flurries are expected to start in the early hours of Tuesday morning with 10-15cm expected by evening. Let's wait and see which weather model holds true. Winds are expected to be strong SW Tuesday morning and moderate in the afternoon. Expect a high of -5c in the Alpine.
No new avalanche activity observed or reported.
If the amount of snow is more than forecast or comes earlier with the winds, be mindful of fresh wind slabs.
Alpine areas have been heavily affected by the past week of strong winds and hard wind slabs are widespread at tree line and above. Ridges and ribs have been previously stripped free of snow while lee and cross-loaded terrain have deep deposits of previous wind loaded snow. The November crust is down 30-100cm and is still producing anywhere from moderate to no results. Faceting has started near the Nov. crust and is something that will be followed closely as more load gets deposited. Alpine temperatures reached near +2c on Monday. Expect some surface crusts from this warming event or from last week's warming, especially on solar aspects.
