Spring is in the air. Expect fast travel on a crust in the morning, and good skiing on high due North aspects.
Watch for increased avalanche activity as the sun hits steep slopes, and the temps warm through the day.
Snow that fell in the past 2 weeks covers a series of crusts combined with surface hoar/facets in some locations. Loose wet avalanches in motion have the potential to step down to these layers, creating large avalanches.
As the day warms, moist/wet surface snow will slide on the most recent crust, and could gain significant mass in steep open terrain.
On Thursday, sun and warm temps triggered a cycle of loose wet avalanches, up to size 2.5, in steep solar terrain.
On Tuesday a field team was able to easily trigger several small slab avalanches at the interface of Sunday's storm.
Below treeline, the snowpack is a series of supportive crusts, which soften with daytime warming.
At treeline and in the alpine, due N aspects still hold dry snow. On solar aspects a breakable surface crust overlies a series of buried crusts, which may provide a failure plane for slab avalanches as temps rise.
The Nov 17 basal weakness can still be found in many locations 20-40cm off the ground.
Increasingly unsettled weather and warming temps in to the weekend, as a pacific low approaches.
Tonight: Alpine low -6°C, light S ridge winds, Freezing level (FZL) 1200m
Friday: Sunny periods, High -1°C, FZL 2000m, light W winds.
Sat: Flurries (5cm), Low -5 °C, High -2 °C, FZL 2000m, Light SW wind.
Sun: Flurries (5-10cm), Low -3 °C, High 0 °C.
