With new snow and wind in the forecast, fresh reactive wind slabs will be the the main character this weekend.
Small amounts of new snow and wind are forming fresh wind slabs in lee terrain features. They may be especially reactive where they sit over a variety of weak grain types and/or hard surfaces.
No new avalanche observations since Thursday when a small (size 1) wind slab was triggered by a sledder. It occurred on a steep alpine slope where a firm wind slab sat atop a weak faceted, shallow snowpack.
Small amounts of new snow falls over faceted and wind-affected surfaces. Winds will redistribute any loose surface snow into lee terrain features.
In steep, exposed alpine terrain, old, hard wind slabs may sit over weak faceted crystals and a crust, down roughly 20 to 30 cm from the surface.
The mid and lower snowpack is generally well-bonded and strong.
Friday night
Cloudy with a trace of snow. 40 to 60 km/h northwest ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -9 °C.
Saturday
Cloudy with up to 10 cm of snow. 40 to 60 km/h west ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -3 °C.
Sunday
Mostly cloudy with 5 to 15 cm of snow. 30 to 50 km/h southwest ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -5 °C.
Monday
5-10 cm overnight then clearing to a mix of sun and cloud. <20 km/h northeast ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -15 °C.
More details can be found in the Mountain Weather Forecast.
