Avalanche Forecast

Moderate - Timing or intensity of solar radiation is uncertain on Monday

The Northwest Inland will see light precipitation through the weekend. TODAY: Freezing level around 1200 m, trace of snow, light to moderate southwest winds. SATURDAY: Freezing level will drop overnight to around 700m, then rise to 1500 m during the day. 1 to 5 cm of snow in the forecast, light to moderate south/southwest winds. SUNDAY: Freezing level dropping to 700 m overnight, then rising to 1300 m during the day. 1 to 5 cm of snow, light winds from the west. MONDAY: Freezing level dropping to 600 m overnight, then beginning to rise to 1500 m by midnight. No precipitation in the forecast.

Loose wet avalanches on solar aspects below treeline are in the news from yesterday.  It is spring, after all !  Recently a cornice failure triggered a size 3 slab avalanche in the southwest corner of the region. This avalanche occurred on an east aspect in high alpine terrain and stepped down to persistent weak layers from January and December. A great example of the ability of a large load to trigger weaknesses that are buried deep in the snowpack..

Recently, up to 20 cm of new snow has fallen in some parts of the region accompanied by moderate to strong southerly winds. At treeline and in the alpine small wind slabs are expected to have formed over a variety of surfaces that include a hard crust on solar aspects above 1300 m, moist or refrozen snow on all aspects below 1300 m, and settled wind slabs in exposed high elevation terrain. Of note is a surface hoar from early March that can be found down 50 to 70 cm but only seems to be a problem for the northern half of the region. Professional operators are still tracking two deep weak layers from early-January and early-February that are now down about 1 meter or more. These layers are generally dormant but might wake up with increased warming or a heavy trigger (like a cornice fall). Basal facets exist in most areas and have been shown to be reactive in the north of the region.