Use extra caution on high north-facing slopes, and around cornices, especially if the sun comes out.
Avalanches starting in steep, rocky terrain could be surprisingly large.
Wind slabs may be more reactive and result in surprisingly large avalanches where they have formed over a layer of surface hoar buried in early April. The distribution of this layer seems to be spotty and has been hard to locate.
With the spring sun packing a punch, be especially aware of your exposure to slopes below cornices during the heat of the afternoon.
On Wednesday, our field team reported some pinwheeling on slopes facing the sun. They also saw a small, isolated wind slab avalanche that was likely a couple of days old.
Also, just outside of our forecast area, several small (size 1) wind slab avalanches were reported in alpine and treeline terrain.
On Tuesday, sluffing was reported in steep terrain.
10 - 25 cm of soft snow has been redistributed by variable winds over a supportive crust on all aspects, except possibly very high elevation, north facing terrain.
On north through northeast aspects, there may be a layer of weak, feathery surface hoar near the bottom of this upper layer of soft snow. This weak layer may be very spotty and has been hard to locate.
A layer of weak, sugary facets over a crust is 80 to 150 cm deep in the alpine. It has not shown any signs of avalanche activity recently, but there is a small possibility it could still be triggered by large loads, like a cornice fall, or in thin-to-thick snowpack transitions. It could also become a threat again as temperatures rise and the sun comes out.
Thursday Night
Mostly cloudy. 1 to 2 cm of snow. 30 km/h southwest ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -4 °C.
Friday
Cloudy. 2 cm of snow. 35 km/h south ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -3 °C.
Saturday
Mostly cloudy. 4 to 5 cm of snow. 30 km/h south ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -3 °C.
Sunday
Mix of sun and clouds. 2 to 5 cm of snow. 30 km/h west ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -3 °C.
More details can be found in the Mountain Weather Forecast.
