Human triggered avalanches remain likely, especially where freshly wind-loaded snow sits over a slippery crust.
Recent storm snow is being redistributed by moderate to strong winds, forming reactive wind slabs over a melt freeze crust found up to 2200 m and heavily wind affected and settled snow at upper elevations.
Weak layers in the middle of the snowpack may still be possible to trigger at elevations where there is no supportive crust to bridge them.
No new reports of avalanches since Wednesday when several very large (size 3-4) natural persistent slab avalanches were reported South of Valemount, likely having run during the warm storm.
Ongoing flurries continue to add to 30 to 60 cm of recent storm snow sitting over a crust that extends up to 2200 m. In open terrain features, the snow is wind affected.
Where it exists, the supportive crust effectively caps a couple of mid snowpack instabilities, making them difficult to trigger. These include a spotty surface hoar layer, and a crust/facet layer from mid November.
Friday Night
Mostly cloudy. 5 cm of snow. 20 km/h southwest ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -11 °C.
Saturday
Mostly cloudy. 5 to 10 cm of snow in most areas, 15+ cm in high terrain west of Valemount. 40 km/h southwest ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -9 °C.
Sunday
Mostly cloudy. 5 to 15 cm of snow. 40 km/h south ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -8 °C.
Monday
Mostly cloudy. 5 to 15 cm of snow. 40 km/h south ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -7 °C.
More details can be found in the Mountain Weather Forecast.
