Quick report
Over the past two weeks, avalanche conditions have been generally simple and predictable. Lots of green light days and excellent skiing. Unfortunately, this weekend's storm looks like it will behave differently, thanks to the snow that has developed at the surface in the past week. Last Friday and Saturday (4/26 and 27), days of warm temperatures and weak freezes were followed by a storm that started out with warm rain. This created crusts that extend far into upper elevation terrain, even on shaded slopes. Temperatures dropped significantly leading into last Sunday (4/28), and snow fell on top of this crust. In the week since, daytime highs and overnight lows have been well below average, resulting in a fair bit faceting in the snow sitting on top of the 4/26 crust. This is not typical for this time of year. This combination (weaker snow sitting on a firm, icy crust) will not make a great base for the Cinco de Mayo storm to land on. During and following this storm, I'm anticipating noticeably more reactive avalanche conditions than we've seen in the past two weeks. I'll be moving through the mountains expecting to encounter avalanches that break wide and are reactive to human triggering. Remotely triggering slides in big, open, freshly loaded terrain seems to be well within the realm of possibility. I'm most concerned about middle and upper elevation slopes on the N half of the compass. It is May, but the light is not green.