Use extra caution on high north-facing slopes, and around cornices, especially if the sun comes out.
Avalanches on steep, rocky slopes could be surprisingly large.
Wind slabs have the potential to be more reactive and result in surprisingly large avalanches where they have formed over a layer of surface hoar buried in early April. The distribution of this surface hoar layer is still uncertain.
With the spring sun packing a punch, be especially aware of your exposure to slopes below cornices during the heat of the afternoon.
On Wednesday, our field team reported some pinwheeling on slopes facing the sun.
On Tuesday, sluffing was reported in steep terrain.
On Monday, west of Haines and just south of our forecast area, two human triggered avalanches were reported in northwest facing alpine terrain. One storm slab and one cornice fall.
Light snowfall has been redistributed by variable winds at higher elevations, with a crust on south-facing slopes.
A persistent weak layer of facets and crust is 80 to 150 cm deep in the alpine, and would most likely be triggered by large loads, like a cornice fall, or in thin-to-thick snowpack transitions.
See this AvCan Yukon MIN report report for a detailed conditions update as of Friday, April 10.
Wednesday Night
Partly cloudy. 20 km/h west ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -4 °C.
Thursday
Mix of sun and clouds. 15 km/h west ridgetop wind, increasing to 30 km/h through the day. Treeline temperature -5 °C.
Friday
Mostly cloudy. 2 to 5 cm of snow. 40 km/h southwest ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -4 °C.
Saturday
Mostly cloudy. 4 to 10 cm of snow. 30 km/h south ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -3 °C.
More details can be found in the Mountain Weather Forecast.
