Early-season hazards are now much harder to see. Higher up, watch for signs of slab formation as you reach elevations where all our new snow sits on a smooth surface.
With lots of new low density snow around and light snowfall continuing, there is an ample supply of snow for new wind slabs to form. Slab formation will be limited at lower elevations where the snow surface becomes moist.
No avalanches have been reported, however, it's safe to assume a natural avalanche cycle took place during recent stormy weather. This would have been limited to alpine and some treeline terrain where previous coverage provided a smooth bed surface for avalanches.
We look forward to your MIN reports from checking out the snow!
With additional snowfall forecast to begin Friday evening, the recent storm total could reach approximately 40 to 80 cm. This new snow has buried an underlying 20 to 50 cm layer of rain-saturated snow, capped by a crust.
Below roughly 1400 m, snowfall has primarily covered vegetation in forested areas, with patchy coverage persisting in open terrain.
Early-season hazards now concealed beneath the new snow will remain a concern until the snowpack settles and forms a more supportive surface, or until further snowfall provides deeper coverage.
Friday Night
Mostly cloudy. 10 to 15 cm of snow. 40 km/h southwest ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -4 °C. Freezing level 600 m.
Saturday
Mostly cloudy. 10 to 20 cm of snow. 50 km/h southwest ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -3 °C. Freezing level 800 m.
Sunday
Mostly cloudy. 10 to 30 cm of snow. 40 km/h southwest ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -2 °C. Freezing level 1000 m.
Monday
Mostly cloudy. 15 to 50 cm of snow. 40 km/h southwest ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -2 °C. Freezing level 900 m.
More details can be found in the Mountain Weather Forecast.
