Up to a foot of new snow with over an inch of moisture fell on Monday and Tuesday. This storm began warm and ended cold. It was accompanied by strong southwest winds that veered to the northwest. This snow accumulated on bare ground on west, south and east aspects at the upper elevations and on all aspects at the mid and lower elevations. On steep northerly aspects above an elevation of 9,000 feet this snow accumulated on faceted snow and crust that formed in October and early November. This buried old snow layer is less than six inches thick. Bitterly cold temperatures and clear skies have dominated the weather since Tuesday afternoon. The avalanche hazard is limited to very steep north facing terrain above an elevation of 9,000 feet.
Isolated pockets of wind slab up to a foot in depth are unlikely to be human triggered but cannot be ruled out in steep upper elevation terrain where faceted snow exist at the base of the snowpack.
( Discussion is generated from the previous day's afternoon forecast. )Below zero temperatures and increasing clouds are expected overnight. On Thursday skies will be mostly cloudy. Periods of light snowfall are forecast to develop and bring one to three inches of new snow to the higher elevations during the afternoon hours. Daytime highs will rise into the teens in the mountains.Snow depths are shallow. The avalanche hazard is limited to very steep north facing terrain above an elevation of 9,000 feet. In this terrain isolated pockets of wind slab up to a foot in depth are unlikely to be human triggered but cannot be ruled out in extreme terrain where faceted snow exists at the base of the snowpack.
