The deep persistent slab problem warrants concern at treeline and above.
Choose conservative terrain.
The bottom of the snowpack is weak, comprising facets and depth hoar. Recent warm temperatures and winds have promoted slab development in the mid and upper snowpack. Use caution with steep or planar slopes where failures of these slabs may be more likely to propagate.
No new avalanches were observed or reported since last weekend.
Trace amounts of snow has buried surface hoar below treeline and sun crusts on steep solar slopes treeline and above. Wind effect and old, hard-slab are found TL and above. A temperature crust from just before Christmas is now buried 5-15 cm below 1900m.
The mid-pack contains a rain crust which can be found as high as 2300m in southern areas.
The basal third of the snowpack consists of a mix of weak facets and depth hoar.
Treeline snow depths range from 60-100 cm.
Light snowfall will fade to flurries overnight Thursday. West winds will slow to moderate by the morning.
Friday, winds will approach the strong range shifting SW as a low starts to influence the region in the afternoon. 5-10 cm of accumulation is expected through Sunday.
Treeline temperatures are expected to be -5 to -15 C and decrease on Sunday.
For more information, click Mountain Weather Forecast.
