Watch for fresh wind slabs in steep terrain Sunday, and how any new snow is sticking to the newly formed rain crust which exists up to 2500m. There is still potential to trigger a deeper slab on the Oct. crust near the base of the snowpack.
New and old wind slabs will be susceptible to triggering in the high alpine over the short term. Variable wind directions mean these could be on many aspects.
A thin crust formed in Oct. with facets exists in the lower snowpack. This has produced a few skier accidentals this week. A new rain crust up to 2500m on all aspects will likely decrease the likelihood of triggering but was still active today.
Temperatures will cool off for Sunday with valley bottoms down to -10C and alpine temperatures reaching -15C. Winds will be moderate to strong in the alpine and variable starting as East in the AM switching to W/NW in the afternoon. Forecasts are currently calling for 5-15cm ending tomorrow by midday. Another pulse of weather will arrive Tuesday.
Rain to 2500m on Friday and cooler temperatures Saturday have started to form a crust today which is 1-5cm thick. The thin October crust and facets in the lower snowpack have been found up to about 2300m. Some wind slabs in the high alpine have still been observed. Treeline snow depths range from 50-70 cm deep (up to 110 cm in lee areas).
Some smaller wind slabs in the alpine have been observed in the last 24 hours outside of the sunshine ski area boundary. Also one planned ski cut in bounds at treeline which likely stepped down to the October rain crust. No other observations reported today.
