Lizard-Flathead

Persistent slabs are tricky to manage and generally require patience and conservative terrain choices. Check out the new Forecaster Blog for a great explanation on how to best manage a persistent slab problem. Click here to read the blog.

Moderate - Due to the number of field observations

MONDAY NIGHT: Cloudy with clear periods. Light south wind. Freezing level valley bottom.TUESDAY: Mix of sun and cloud. Light southwest wind. Freezing level valley bottom.WEDNESDAY: Cloudy with isolated flurries, trace accumulation. Light southwest wind. Freezing level valley bottom.THURSDAY: Mix of sun and cloud. Light southwest wind. Freezing level valley bottom.

On Friday, several natural and explosives triggered avalanches to size 2 were reported on Friday. On Saturday, several explosives triggered avalanches size 1-2.5 were reported in the region.

Up to 20 cm of new snow is being redistributed into soft wind slabs in lee areas at treeline and alpine elevations. A combined total of 60-110 cm of recent snow has formed a slab that sits on a persistent weak layer that formed in early December. This layer mostly consists of facets (sugary snow) with some isolated areas also containing small surface hoar (feathery crystals). Several other weak layers have been observed in the lower snowpack such as crusts and facets that formed in late October/early November. The potential may exist for avalanches triggered on the persistent slab to step down to these lower layers, resulting in large, destructive avalanches.