It remains likely for riders to trigger large avalanches. Conservative terrain travel is recommended.
Buried weak layers from January and February could still be triggered by riders, particularly at upper treeline and alpine elevations. Storm slab avalanches could step down to these layers, forming very large avalanches.
All the recent storm snow may take more time to bond to the snowpack. Be wary of any steep, consequential slope.
Monday saw many large (size 2 to 3) storm slab, wind slab, and persistent slab avalanches. They were triggered naturally, by humans, and by explosives. They occurred on all aspects and at all elevation bands but most prominently on west, north, and east aspects around 1900 to 2500 m.
It remains likely for humans to trigger similar avalanches going forward until the snowpack strengthens.
Around 50 cm of storm snow has accumulated since Saturday. This snow sits on a hard melt-freeze crust and potentially surface hoar crystals in wind-sheltered terrain. Deposits may be deeper in lee terrain features in the alpine from recent southerly wind.
Weak layers of surface hoar and/or faceted grains buried mid-February and late-January are around 60 to 150 cm deep.
The lower half of the snowpack is strong.
Tuesday Night
Cloudy with 2 to 5 cm of snow. 10 to 20 km/h south ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -7 °C.
Wednesday
Cloudy with 2 to 5 cm of snow. 20 to 30 km/h south ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -4 °C. Freezing level rising to 1500 m.
Thursday
Cloudy with 10 to 20 cm of snow. 20 to 30 km/h west ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -4 °C.
Friday
Mostly cloudy with 2 to 5 cm of snow. 10 to 20 km/h south ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -7 °C.
More details can be found in the Mountain Weather Forecast.
