Warm temperature and strong sun will change conditions rapidly this afternoon. Stable conditions this AM will deteriorate quickly surfaces become moist. Loose avalanche are likely this afternoon, reduce your exposure to sun effected terrain.
Weather Forecast
Sunny conditions with light/calm winds are forecast today. Freezing levels will rise to over 2000 m, expect +4 deg C in the alpine today. Spring conditions will continue through the weekend with elevated freezing levels. No precipitation is forecast during this period.
Snowpack Summary
Strong solar radiation and rising freezing levels have deteriorated ski quality on all but sheltered N aspects. Moist surface snow and crusts are found at all elevations, with growing surface hoar. Avalanches have been triggered from thin snowpack areas weakened by warm temps. Several PWL's (mostly buried sun crusts with SH) are still active.
Avalanche Summary
Afternoons have seen small loose avalanche cycles mostly concentration to SE-W asp. Yesterday after 1300 avalanches were running up to size 2.5, with one notable size 3.0. Most of these are scrubbing the surface snow, but a few are digging into deeper layers. Cornice triggered avalanches have increased, with warm daytime temperatures.
Confidence
The weather pattern is stable
Problems
Loose Wet
Loose Wet avalanches are the release of wet unconsolidated snow or slush. These avalanches typically occur within layers of wet snow near the surface of the snowpack, but they may quickly gouge into lower snowpack layers. Like Loose Dry Avalanches, they start at a point and entrain snow as they move downhill, forming a fan-shaped avalanche. Other names for loose-wet avalanches include point-release avalanches or sluffs. Loose Wet avalanches can trigger slab avalanches that break into deeper snow layers.
Cornices
Cornice Fall is the release of an overhanging mass of snow that forms as the wind moves snow over a sharp terrain feature, such as a ridge, and deposits snow on the downwind (leeward) side. Cornices range in size from small wind drifts of soft snow to large overhangs of hard snow that are 30 feet (10 meters) or taller. They can break off the terrain suddenly and pull back onto the ridge top and catch people by surprise even on the flat ground above the slope. Even small cornices can have enough mass to be destructive and deadly. Cornice Fall can entrain loose surface snow or trigger slab avalanches.
Persistent Slabs
Persistent Slab avalanches are the release of a cohesive layer of snow (a slab) in the middle to upper snowpack, when the bond to an underlying persistent weak layer breaks. Persistent layers include: surface hoar, depth hoar, near-surface facets, or faceted snow. Persistent weak layers can continue to produce avalanches for days, weeks or even months, making them especially dangerous and tricky. As additional snow and wind events build a thicker slab on top of the persistent weak layer, this avalanche problem may develop into a Deep Persistent Slab.