Heavy loading from recent snow and rain will leave dense, wet storm slabs primed for rider triggering on Wednesday. Stick to low angle terrain and avoid overhead hazard.
While natural activity will likely taper as the rain eases this morning, storm slabs will likely remain triggerable by riders today. If triggered, these avalanches will be dense and destructive.
A rain-saturated upper snowpack may be primed for human-triggered loose wet avalanches.
A natural avalanche cycle was reported throughout the region on Monday. Storm slabs were observed at all elevations to size 2.
Please consider submitting your observations to the Mountain Information Network.
After Tuesday night, the upper snowpack has been soaked by rain at most elevations. On peaks above 2200 m, 50 to 80 cm of recent storm snow may have escaped the rain and instead been redistributed by strong southwest wind.
The remainder of the snowpack is strong, with various hard layers and crusts.
Wednesday will bring a short lived reprieve amid the series of frontal systems bringing wet precipitation to the region. After Wednesday, precipitation will resume but freezing levels will begin to gradually drop.
Tuesday Night
Moderate rain up to ~2200 m, 5 to 15 cm of snow on the highest peaks. 30 to 50 km/h southwest ridgetop wind. Freezing level between 2200 and 2500m.
Wednesday
Cloudy with light rain below ~2000 m, 5 cm of snow above. 20 to 40 km/h southwest ridgetop wind. Freezing level between 2000 and 2300 m.
Thursday
Cloudy with light rain overnight turning to snow flurries above ~1500 m. 30 to 50 km/h southwest ridgetop wind. Freezing level between 1400 and 1700 m.
Friday
Cloudy with 5 to 15 cm of snow above ~1400 m. 20 to 40 km/h southwest ridgetop wind. Freezing level between 1200 and 1600 m.
More details can be found in the Mountain Weather Forecast.
