The mountains are relatively static, with few weather inputs to dramatically affect the danger. If considering exposure to larger alpine terrain, be cautious of the potential for avalanches to initiate on the basal depth hoar and facets.
Continued strong W through S winds have scoured much of the alpine and created isolated wind slabs over the past few days. If triggered, these wind slabs could step down to the deep persistent problem.
The bottom layers of the snowpack are facetted and weak in most areas. Given the unpredictable nature of this problem, use caution when venturing on to any steeper slope with consequence.
No new avalanches were observed or reported over the last 24 hours.
Wind effect and isolated hard wind slabs can be found in the alpine and in isolated spots at treeline from continued moderate to strong SW winds. In sheltered areas at treeline and below, surface hoar and facetted snow sit over two distinct rain crusts in the upper snowpack.
The base of the snowpack is a mix of weak facets, depth hoar and a decomposing Oct crust. Low elevations consist of a re-frozen previously wet snowpack.
Treeline snow depths range from 50-95 cm.
On Thursday, SW winds will be in the moderate to strong range, with valley bottom freezing levels and scattered flurries. It's much the same for Friday.
For more information, click Mountain Weather Forecast.
