South Coast

Freezing levels and solar radiation are somewhat uncertain for the next few days. If the sun is out, or the snow is moist or wet, avalanches will be more likely.

Fair - Timing or intensity of solar radiation is uncertain

A weak ridge of high pressure will maintain mainly dry and progressively cooler conditions for the forecast period. Tuesday: Very light precipitation and generally overcast skies / Moderate to strong southwest winds / Freezing level at 2000m Wednesday: Mainly clear skies / Light northwest winds / Freezing level at 1500m Thursday: Mainly clear skies / Light northwest winds / Freezing level at 2000m

At the time of publishing on Monday, no new avalanches had been reported. With warming and solar radiation, I'm sure there was a decent round of loose wet avalanche activity. The forecast cooling trend suggests this sort of activity will become less likely. That said, I'd pay close attention to daytime temperatures and solar radiation as this will likely be the driver for further activity of this type.

Up to 50 cm of settled storm snow has been saturated by rain up to about 2100m. Surfaces may be moist or refrozen, depending on current temperatures and solar radiation. At the highest elevations you might find dense, stubborn wind slabs in lee terrain. New cornice development has also been noted. The older storm snow overlies a hard crust and/or surface hoar layer which formed in early January. The bond at this interface will be largely elevation dependant as rain may have penetrated the snowpack enough to dissolve the crust in many areas. At higher elevations where snow has fallen, this interface may still be reactive although no recent avalanches have been reported at this interface.Deeper snowpack weaknesses seem to have become unreactive, and should become even less of a concern if the forecast cooling trend verifies.