Wind slabs are expected to remain sensitive to human triggering. Use extra caution in wind-exposed terrain.
Human-triggered wind slabs remain possible. These wind slabs may sit over a weak interface in some areas, which may keep them reactive for longer than normal.
On Saturday, several wind slab avalanches (size 1.5) and a storm slab avalanche (size 2.5) were reported in the Big Kahuna area.
30 cm of snow from last week's storm is being redistributed by strong southerly wind. The new snow is building deep drifts of wind-deposited snow on lee and cross-loaded slopes, forming fresh wind slabs. These sit over firm, wind-affected surfaces in exposed areas, faceted snow in sheltered terrain, and a crust on steep solar aspects. A poor bond to these interfaces may exist.
A weak layer of facets and a crust from early December is buried 60 to 150 cm deep. This layer exists on all aspects up to 1750 m. This layer has not been active in producing avalanches or test results in several weeks and is generally not a concern at this time.
At the highway elevation, the snow depth is 120 cm, and in the alpine exceeds 200 cm.
Sunday Night
Cloudy. 20 to 40 km/h south ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -5 °C.
Monday
Mix of sun and clouds. 10 to 20 km/h south ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -6 °C..
Tuesday
A mix of sun and cloud. 15 to 30 km/h southwest ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -2 °C.
Wednesday
A mix of sun and cloud. 10 to 25 km/h southeast ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -4 °C.
More details can be found in the Mountain Weather Forecast.
