Northwest Coastal

Watch for wind-loaded pockets especially around ridgecrest and in extreme terrain.

Several size 1 (small) wind slab avalanches were triggered by riders in steep, wind-loaded, convex terrain features in the alpine on Wednesday.

A couple of older naturally triggered wind slabs up to size 2.5 were reported on northerly aspects in the alpine. One likely occurred from a cornice that failed and triggered the slope below.

Up to 5 cm will fall on Friday over heavily wind-affected surfaces.

In sheltered areas, 10 to 30 cm of settled dry snow overlies a thick and hard melt-freeze crust below approximately 1700 m. The crust is at the snow surface at lower elevations.

The middle of the snowpack may contain old, weak faceted layers and hard crusts, which do not currently present a concern.

Thursday Night

Partly cloudy. 10 to 20 km/h northwest ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -9 °C.

Friday

Cloudy with 2 to 5 cm of snow. 20 to 35 km/h west ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -5 °C.

Saturday

Cloudy with 10 to 35 cm of snow. 50 to 70 km/h southwest ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -4 °C.

Sunday

Cloudy with up to 5 cm of snow. 40 to 60 km/h west ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -3 °C.

More details can be found in the Mountain Weather Forecast.

• Watch for wind-loaded pockets especially around ridgecrest and in extreme terrain.
• Even a small avalanche can be harmful if it pushes you into an obstacle or a terrain trap.
• When a thick, melt-freeze surface crust is present, avalanche activity is unlikely.