The amount of precipitation expected during the day is uncertain.
If the precipitations are constant throughout the day, expect an increase of the depth and the reactivity of the wind slabs.
The new snow and moderate to strong south, southwest winds will form reactive wind slabs during the day. Be careful in leeward, cross loaded and reverse loaded areas.
These new wind slabs may rest, in places, on the January 18 crust, increasing the reactivity to skier traffic in those areas.
A slab has formed on top of the facets on crust interface of the January 18th, which is now buried at a depth of 60 cm. Although the probability of triggering an avalanche is very low, this interface exists, and could, in isolated places, react to skier traffic. An avalanche on the surface could also step down to the deeper layer.
A size 1 wind slab avalanche was accidentally triggered by a skier, on a western aspect, in the Grande Cuve.
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5 à 10 cm of low density snow overlies the crust created by last week's warm temperature event. Although the effects of these mild temperatures were limited, there is still a generalized crust, ranging from very thin, and even imperceptible when skiing, to 3 cm thick, depending on the location. This interface rests on a well-consolidated, right side up, mid-snowpack, with a constant increase in density. The January 18 crust is buried under about 60 cm of snow, and still has a layer of flat-faced grains above.
Summits and upper couloirs have various surfaces, going from scoured down to the ice to wind pressed snow.
In general, the height of the snow pack varies from 70 to 90 cm down in the valley, to 100 to 150 cm at mid-elevations
Forecast for the Chic-Chocs ridges and summits.
Synopsis: A low pressure system is moving in with strong southerly winds, increasing the freezing level. An uncertain amount of snow is expected, and maybe rain at valley bottom.
Sunday evening and night: Cloudy. Snow starting overnight. Winds from the south from 60 to 80 km/h. Min. -7C. Freezingt level at 250m.
Monday: Cloudy. 8 to 15 cm of snow. Winds from the southwest from 60 to 80 km/h. Max. -5C. Freezing level level at 700m.
Tuesday: Sunny. No precipitation. Winds from the northwest around 50 km/h easing off to 35 km/h in the afternoon. Max. -10C.
Wednesday: Cloudy. 2-3 cm of snow. Winds from the northwest around 40 km/h. Max -19C.
For more details, see the Chic-Chocs alpine forecast.
