Limited observations are keeping forecast confidence low. Steady westerly winds are expected to redistribute loose snow and build slabs.
Steady southwest winds are redistributing loose surface snow and building new wind slabs on leeward slopes, particularly near ridgetop.
Thursday night: Cloudy with isolated flurries. Alpine low temperature -9 C. Moderate southwest winds.
Friday: Cloudy with isolated flurries, up to 5 cm. Alpine high temperature -4 C. Moderate southwest winds.
Saturday: Flurries, up to 10 cm. Alpine high temperature -2 C. Moderate southwest winds.
Sunday: Flurries and snow, 10-15 cm. Alpine high temperature 0 C. Moderate southwest winds gusting to strong.
No new avalanches were reported from Tuesday's storm, but observations have been minimal. The recent snow is expected to remain reactive over the near term, especially on steeper south facing slopes and in areas where wind loading has occurred or will occur.
About 20 cm of new snow accumulated during Tuesday's storm. Sun has encouraged settlement and produced moist slopes on steep solar aspects at lower elevations. Increasing southwest winds will redistribute loose surface snow.
Tuesday's snow covered a melt-freeze crust on sun-exposed slopes and on previously wind-affected snow in other areas, so new slabs may take some time to bond to these surfaces.
A layer of faceted grains overly a melt-freeze crust from early February. This layer currently sits 30 to 60 cm below the surface. This layer remains dormant and has not produced a reported avalanche for about a week.
The base of the snowpack may contain a weak layer of faceted grains that are most prominent in shallow rocky start zones with a snowpack depth of 150 cm or less.
