Avoid overhead hazard. Solar input could increase the chances of cornice falls and Wet loose avalanches on sun exposed aspects.
Recent strong westerly have formed reactive wind slabs in exposed terrain at higher elevations. In the north of the region it is possible that wind slab has formed over a persistent weak layer from late January.
Large cornices are expected with ongoing strong to extreme wind over the past week. A cornice failure has the potential to trigger a slab avalanche on the slope below.
Wednesday night: Freezing levels staying around 2000m. possibility of light rain. Strong west winds.
Thursday: Mainly sunny with moderate to strong west winds. Freezing levels reaching 2200 m with an inversion.
Friday: Sunny with freezing levels around 1700m. Light northwest winds.
Saturday: sunny with light to moderate northwest winds. Freezing level rising to 1800m.
No new avalanches were reported over the past few days.
A new melt-freeze crust is expected on solar aspects into the alpine . This crust will likely break down and become moist as the sun comes out. Ongoing periods of strong westerly winds have formed wind slabs and large cornices in exposed terrain at higher elevations.
The January 30 interface is now typically down around 20cm and consists of of variety of forms including surface hoar, facets and a crust. It is generally only concerning in the north part of the region. The January 18 rain crust down 20 to 70 cm deep and may have weak faceted snow above. In heavily wind effected areas it may befound on the surface.
The early December crust/facet persistent weak layer is now 100-200 cm deep. This layer produced numerous very large avalanches in January but is now considered dormant. See this forecaster blog on how to manage this layer as it may come into play again later this season.
