Avalanche danger is expected to increase through the day on Wednesday as skies clear and freezing levels rise rapidly.
Recent snow continues to settle and form cohesive slabs above a layer of surface hoar atop a crust with weak facets beneath. Warming temperatures on Wednesday may further stress this layer, increasing the likelihood of avalanches.
Clearing skies and warming temperatures throughout the day will weaken the upper snowpack and potentially lead to wet loose avalanche activity.
A significant avalanche cycle occurred over the weekend on the late-January surface hoar layer atop a crust, producing avalanches up to size 2.
Since then, several smaller human-triggered avalanches (size 1–1.5) have been reported across the region.
In general, recent avalanche activity has been most common near treeline, on a variety of aspects.
While crusty, refrozen surfaces may be present on Wednesday morning on steep south-facing slopes and at lower elevations, rapidly rising freezing levels will likely cause surfaces to become moist as the day progresses.
Approximately 30 to 40 cm of recent snow, since late January, now sits over a widespread surface hoar layer resting on a melt-freeze crust, with up to 15 cm of weak, faceted snow immediately below the crust.
The mid and lower snowpack remain well settled, with no significant concerns.
Tuesday Night
Partly cloudy. 30 km/h west ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -1 °C. Freezing level rising from 1800 to 2800 m overnight.
Wednesday
Mix of sun and clouds. 30 km/h west ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature 2 °C. Freezing level 3100 m.
Thursday
Sunny. 30 km/h west ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature 4 °C. Freezing level 3200 m.
Friday
Mostly sunny. 30 km/h southwest ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature 4 °C. Freezing level 3000 m.
More details can be found in the Mountain Weather Forecast.
