Recent snow arrived with significant southerly winds.
Avalanches could step down to buried weak layers, creating large destructive avalanches.
Weak layers of surface hoar and facets/crust could exist in the top meter. Recent snowfall has added load to these layers, and could make persistent slabs more likely to trigger.
Up to 20 cm of new snow arrived in the last storm. Be careful transitioning into wind-loaded areas where you may find deeper deposits or where the new snow overlies a crust below.
On Monday, several large (size 2) natural avalanches were observed in wind-loaded north-facing terrain in the alpine. Read the full report here.
Up to 20 cm of recent snow that arrived with strong southerly winds has been redistributed into deeper deposits in wind-loaded areas. This new snow overlies a melt-freeze crust on solar aspects and previously wind-affected surfaces at higher elevations.
30 to 60 cm of storm snow from the past week may be sitting on a layer of surface hoar, facets or a crust.
Another weak layer consisting of a crust with facets from early February is buried 50 to 100+ cm deep.
The remaining snowpack appears to be well settled and bonded.
Wednesday Night
Cloudy. 30 km/h west ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -2 °C. Freezing level 1300 m.
Thursday
Mostly cloudy. 20 km/h northwest ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -3 °C. Freezing level 1200 m.
Friday
Cloudy. 10 to 15 cm of snow. 40 km/h west ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -2 °C. Freezing level 1100 m.
Saturday
Mostly cloudy. 3 to 4 mm of precipitation. 60 km/h west ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature 0 °C. Freezing level 1700 m.
More details can be found in the Mountain Weather Forecast.
