New snow arrives with moderate wind, take care when transitioning into wind affected terrain.
Surface slab avalanches may step down to deeper instabilities in the snowpack.
A persistent weak layer is buried 80 to 130 cm. This layer remains a concern where there is no thick, supportive crust under the recent snow.
Expect deeper deposits and touchier slabs in lee areas.
Recent explosive avalanche control and natural cornice fall has produced numerous slab avalanches up to size 2 in north through east facing alpine terrain.
Looking forward: Avalanches on buried weak layers may be difficult to trigger, but if one is triggered, it is likely to be large and destructive.
New snow falls on a variety of surfaces.
Below 1900 m and on solar aspects, a surface crust overlays up to 25 cm of snow that sits on a widespread melt-freeze crust.
Above this and on north aspects, the new snow falls on wind redistributed snow from predominantly southwest wind.
A weak layer of preserved surface hoar or facets from late January is buried 80 to 130 cm. This weak layer remains a concern where there is no thick, supportive crust under the recent snow.
The lower snowpack is generally well-settled and strong.
Sunday Night
Mainly cloudy, with up to 20 cm of snow. 30 to 60 km/h southwest ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature around 0 °C.
Monday
Mainly cloudy, with possible flurries. 20 to 40 km/h southwest ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature around 0 °C.
Tuesday
Mainly cloudy, with up to 5 cm of snow. 15 to 25 km/h southwest ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature around 0 °C.
Wednesday
Mainly cloudy, with up to 5 cm of snow. 10 to 20 km/h southwest ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature +1 °C.
More details can be found in the Mountain Weather Forecast.
