Avalanche Forecast
Issued: Feb 18th, 2012 9:56AM
The alpine rating is Wind Slabs and Deep Persistent Slabs.
, the treeline rating is , and the below treeline rating is Known problems includeSummary
Confidence
Good
Weather Forecast
We're entering a more active pattern which should persist through the middle of next week.Sun: A ridge of high pressure rebuilds during the day allowing temperatures to cool slightly while winds ease and switch from the SW to NW. A bit of instability from Saturday's storm will produce the odd flurry, but skies should clear in the afternoon. Look for 1500m temps to climb to -2 during the day.Mon/Tue: A few weak systems pass over the region favoring west slopes. Nothing in the flow is particularly well organized, it's the kind of setup that has the potential to bring 2-4 cm a day. Precip totals will be quite variable throughout the region, favoring the west slopes. 1500 m temps: High -3, Low -7
Avalanche Summary
No new avalanche activity reported Thursday or Friday.
Snowpack Summary
Widespread surface hoar has been buried by 5 - 10 cm of new snow in most of the region. The exception is terrain closer to the bugs where the interface is down 20-40cm. A melt-freeze crust has developed on southerly aspects at all elevations. North and east aspects continue to have dry snow and some surface sloughing in steep terrain. Basal facets have not been reactive, but operators continue to monitor this layer in tests. Triggering this deep persistent weak layer is unlikely, but shallow snowpack areas or shallow weak areas adjacent to deeper wind loaded slopes are suspect locations.
Problems
Wind Slabs
Aspects: All aspects.
Elevations: Alpine, Treeline.
Likelihood
Expected Size
Deep Persistent Slabs
Aspects: All aspects.
Elevations: Alpine.
Likelihood
Expected Size
Valid until: Feb 19th, 2012 9:00AM