Freezing levels reach well into the alpine Wednesday and Thursday causing surface snow to slowly deteriorate. A moist or wet snow surface, pinwheeling and natural avalanches are all indicators of a weakening snowpack.
40 -50 cm of snow sits above a thick crust. With freezing levels well into the alpine, brief periods of direct sun could produce natural avalanches cycle on surface layers.
No new avalanches have been reported in this region since Jan 21. Please continue to post your reports and photos to the Mountain Information Network.
10-20 cm of storm snow from the weekend is found in wind-sheltered terrain features. In some areas, new snow sits on top of a thin melt-freeze crust. 50 cm of settling snow sits over a hard crust at higher elevations. Below 700 m surface is a hard crust.
Last week's rain saturated the snowpack and created a well-consolidated lower snowpack.
Tuesday Night
Cloudy with isolated flurries stopping early evening, trace accumulation. Westerly ridge top winds 15-20 km/h. 1500m temperature low of -1C.
An above freezing layer develops from 1500 - 2500 m by morning.
Wednesday
Mainly sunny with low valley cloud. Light westerly ridgetop winds gusting to 25 km/h. 1500m temperature high of +3C. Freezing levels continue to rise to 3000 m.
The above freezing layer remains from 1500-2500 m overnight.
Thursday
Cloudy with sunny periods and isolated flurries, trace accumulation. Light westerly ridgetop winds occasionally gusting to 40 km/h. 1500m temperature high of 0C. An above freezing layer remains between 1500-2500m.
Friday
Mix of sun and cloud. Light westerly ridgetop winds occasionally gusting to 35 km/h. 1500m temperature high of -1C. Freezing levels drop to 800 m.
More details can be found in the Mountain Weather Forecast.
