There is a lot of uncertainty as to how the snowpack is going to react to the sustained heat and sun. Loose wet avalanches will become possible as the surface crust breaks down, especially on steep sun exposed slopes.
The warming and sun are not expected to have a major impact on the rain soaked snowpack but loose wet avalanches may become possible from steep, sun exposed slopes as the warming persists. The more the surface crust breaks down over the weekend, the more likely wet loose avalanches will become.
The region now sits under the warm ridge of high pressure which is expected to persist into early next week bringing very high freezing levels and sun.
Friday Night: Mainly clear, moderate NW wind, freezing levels around 3200 m.
Saturday: Mainly sunny, moderate NW wind, freezing levels as high as 3400 m.
Sunday: A mix of sun and cloud, moderate NW wind, freezing levels around 3000 m, dropping to around 2500 m by Sunday night.
Monday: Mainly sunny, moderate NW wind, freezing levels around 2800 m.
No new avalanche activity have been reported over the last few days but none have been expected with a widespread crust capping the snowpack.
Observations remain limited. If you head out into the mountains, please share any observations or photos on the Mountain Information Network.
Recent heavy rain and warm temperatures has saturated the surface snow to mountain top elevations and a widespread crust has formed where the snow surface has refrozen. Below this crust, snow is moist down 30-50 cm and several old crusts are now breaking down. The middle and base of the snowpack are well settled and strong, consisting of well bonded snow and various hard melt-freeze crusts.
