Snow that is being redistributed by the wind will be likely to avalanche.
Deeply buried layers are still a concern in very large alpine terrain.
Strong northeast wind has reverse or cross-loaded slopes at all elevations. The recent 20 to 40 cm of snow may bond slowly to underlying layers.
The 100 to 200 cm deep weak layer from early December continues to produce large avalanches.
One very large natural avalanche was observed on Wednesday (size 3.5) on a northerly aspect at 1800 m. This likely failed on the buried weak layer from December described in the snowpack summary.
Ongoing sluffing of the new snow and small wind slabs (less than size 2) in steep areas are being observed throughout the region.
There has been 20 to 40 cm of new snow since Wednesday. This new snow fell on a mix of:
Large surface hoar crystals in sheltered spots at treeline and below
Crusts on solar slopes
Old wind-affected snow
These types of snow may result in a weak layer moving forward.
Strong northeast winds will now reverse load features at all elevations.
A layer of surface hoar from early January is buried 20 to 60 cm deep, though it's uncertain whether this layer will persist.
100 to 200 cm deep in the snowpack are layers of crust, facets, and possibly surface hoar that were buried in December.
Saturday Night
Mix of sun and cloud with flurries. 20 to 50 km/h east ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -16 °C.
Sunday
Sunny. 40 to 70 km/h northeast ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -16 °C.
Monday
Sunny. 50 to 70 km/h northeast ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -16 °C.
Tuesday
Sunny. 50 to 70 km/h southwest ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -12 °C.
More details can be found in the Mountain Weather Forecast.
