Glacier

Strong to Extreme winds are transporting the new snow rapidly and increasing the hazard to high. There is also a significant buried weak layer that could produce large avalanches.

Sunday would be a great day to slash some pow at your local hill.

A few natural slab avalanches were initiated by the wind from the highway corridor on Sat, up to size 3 and reaching into the fan.

Natural slab avalanches as big as sz 2.5 were observed Thursday from the steep north facing terrain of Mt. Macdonald & Mt. Green.

On Wednesday, a field team triggered loose, moist avalanches below tree-line in steep, unsupported terrain.

10-30cm of new snow is being redistributed by strong to extreme Southerly wind. Below this, the upper snowpack consists of well settled storm snow, thin sun crusts on steep solar aspects, and the faceted drought layer over the Feb 3rd crust (which is widespread below 2500m).

The mid to lower snowpack is we settled, except in isolated areas of the alpine where an unusually thin & faceted snowpack exists.

A cold front approaches bringing snow and strong to extreme winds. As the storm passes, temps will drop.

Tonight: 6cm, Alp low -7°C, Strong to Extreme West wind, FZ Lvl: 1100m

Sun: 21cm, Alp high -5°C,, Strong SW wind gusting to 115km/hr, FZ Lvl: 1300m

Mon: Trace precip, Alp high -11°C,, Light SW wind gusting to 115km/hr, FZ Lvl: 500m

Tues: Cloudy with sunny periods, Alp Low -19°C, Moderate S wind, FZ Lvl: Valley Bottom

• Watch for newly formed and reactive wind slabs as you transition into wind affected terrain.
• Storm slabs in motion may step down to deeper layers resulting in large avalanches.