Wind will redistribute the new snow and build reactive wind slabs at upper elevations.
Seek out sheltered terrain below treeline where you can avoid slabs and find great riding.
New snow accumulating, combined with steady wind, will form new wind slabs over old surfaces. Expect reactive wind slabs farther downslope than usual with such strong wind.
No avalanche activity has been reported in the past few days. Poor visibility may have restricted field observations.
Looking forward, wind slab avalanche activity is likely to increase as new snow accumulates and the wind picks up over the coming days.
If you are heading into the backcountry, please share any observations with the Mountain Information Network.
By Wednesday afternoon, an additional 10 to 20 cm will be added to the current snowpack. This overlies old settling snow and hard wind-affected snow on all aspects, including lower elevations below treeline in some areas. Strong to extreme southwest wind will redistribute this new snow into deeper deposits on lee slopes.
On some ridgetops, the wind stripped the snow in wind-exposed terrain down to the early-February melt-freeze crust. In wind-sheltered terrain, around 40 to 70 cm of snow sits on top of this crust. It seems well-bonded and is not considered a problem at this time.
The remainder of the snowpack is consolidated with no layers of concern.
Tuesday Night
Cloudy. 5 to 10 cm of snow. 70 km/h west ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -6 °C.
Wednesday
Cloudy. 5 to 10 cm of snow. 70 km/h southwest ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -5 °C.
Thursday
Cloudy. 10 to 15 cm of snow. 70 km/h southwest ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -5 °C.
Friday
Cloudy. Up to 5 cm of snow. 30 km/h west ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -15 °C.
More details can be found in the Mountain Weather Forecast.
