Avalanche danger remains elevated as the storm quiets and all the recent snow stabilizes. Conservative terrain travel is warranted.
Around 40 to 60 cm of snow has formed storm slabs in sheltered areas and been blown into wind slabs in exposed terrain. The snow may not bond well to underlying surfaces, meaning human-triggering of large avalanches remains likely.
MONDAY NIGHT: Cloudy with snowfall, accumulation 5 to 10 cm, 40 to 60 km/h west wind, alpine temperature -10 C.
TUESDAY: Cloudy with snowfall and afternoon clearing, accumulation 5 to 10 cm, 30 to 40 km/h northwest wind, alpine temperature -11 C.
WEDNESDAY: Increasing clouds with afternoon snowfall, accumulation 2 to 5 cm, 30 to 40 km/h southwest wind, alpine temperature -10 C.
THURSDAY: Cloudy with snowfall, accumulation 10 to 20 cm, 60 km/h southwest wind, alpine temperature -8 C.
Widespread avalanche activity is expected to have occurred over the weekend, for example as described in this MIN. Looking ahead, similar storm and wind slab avalanche activity may continue into Tuesday as more snow and strong wind are forecast.
40 to 60 cm of snow and strong southwest wind has formed new storm and wind slabs. Another 10 to 20 cm of snow and strong west wind are forecast for Monday night and Tuesday, building on these slabs. All this snow overlies hard wind-affected snow in exposed terrain and weak, faceted snow or surface hoar crystals in sheltered terrain, suggesting it may take some time for the new snow to bond to these surfaces.
There hasn't been avalanche activity on deeper weak layers for some time. Once we see a substantial warm-up, we'll be thinking about the potential for deeply buried weak layers to reactivate.
