Avalanche Forecast

Fair - Intensity of incoming weather systems is uncertain

Overnight and Thursday: A few cm are expected overnight, ending by early morning. Expect 3-5 cm near the coast and 1-3 cm inland. Moderate Northerly winds are forecast with strong Northeast outflow winds developing during the day. Freezing levels should drop down to valley bottoms.Friday: Mostly sunny with light Northwest winds and strong Northeast outflow winds in the major valleys. Saturday: A mix of sun and cloud with alpine temperatures dropping to about -15 C. Continued outflow winds.

No new avalanches reported.

The inversion broke down a little earlier than forecast in the interior, resulting in a solid melt-freeze crust that now has a layer of surface hoar above; even on southerly aspects. Forecast new snow amounts are only a couple of cm, so this layer may not get buried deep enough to persist through the next period of high pressure. If we get more snow than forecast expect the crust/surface hoar combination to be a very easy sliding layer. The deep persistent layer of weak facets continues to be a concern in shallow snowpack areas, however the re-frozen upper snowpack may make triggering less likely.