Recent snow and high freezing levels will create dangerous avalanche conditions.
Stick to low-angle terrain away from overhead hazard.
Expect deeper and more reactive deposits on north-facing slopes. Wind slab avalanches may step down to weak layers deeper in the snowpack and create very large avalanches.
New snow and wind will stress weak layers. Surface hoar and facets buried in the upper snowpack have produced recent avalanches. Large loads or step-downs could trigger layers buried deeper in the snowpack.
Several natural persistent slab avalanches up to size 3 were reported on Friday, failing on the mid-March or early March surface hoar layers.
Additionally, on Sunday, a size 2 avalanche was rider-triggered on a northwest aspect in the alpine. This avalanche was believed to have occurred on the February drought layer.
50-100 cm of recent snow is being redistributed by variable winds. This snow fell on previously wind-affected surfaces and crusts on steep south-facing terrain.
Three layers of concern currently exist in the upper-mid snowpack. Surface hoar that formed in mid-March can be found 65 to 85 cm below the snow surface. Below this, another layer of surface hoar that formed in early March can be found at a depth of 90 to 125 cm. Additionally, a layer of facets, surface hoar, and/or a crust from mid-February is buried 115 to 195 cm deep.
The remainder of the snowpack is well consolidated, and there are no current concerns.
Monday Night
Mostly cloudy. 20 to 30 km/h southeast ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -4 °C.
Tuesday
Cloudy with 0 to 2 cm of snow. 20 to 30 km/h east ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -3 °C. Freezing levels rise to 1300 m.
Wednesday
Cloudy with up to 5 cm of snow. 30 to 50 km/h southwest ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -5 °C.Freezing levels rise to 1300 m.
Thursday
Cloudy. Up to 10 cm of snow. 10 to 20 km/h southwest ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature 0°C. Freezing levels rise to 1400 m.
More details can be found in the Mountain Weather Forecast.
