Avalanche Forecast

Saturday: Snow, accumulation 15-30 cm. Alpine temperature -2 C. Moderate to strong southwest wind. Freezing level 1600 m.

Sunday: Flurries, accumulation 10-15 cm. Alpine temperature -4 C. Moderate southwest wind. Freezing level 1500m.

Monday: Scattered flurries. Alpine temperature -4 C. Moderate west wind. Freezing level 500 m.

Tuesday: Mainly cloudy. Alpine temperature -4 C. Moderate west wind. Freezing level 500 m.

Snow accumulation over the past 3 days has overloaded deeply buried weak layers. As a result avalanches have the potential to reach the end of their runouts. Expect storm slabs to remain touchy on Sunday as the new snow continues to accumulate at upper elevations. On Friday and Saturday there were reports of widespread avalanche activity in the recent storm snow. Explosives controlled avalanches size 3 persistent slab avalanches were running on weak layers 150 cm deep at treeline on Saturday.

Snowfall at upper elevations has covered a previously variable and wind-affected surface and is expected to continue to develop touchy storm slabs. Expect the surface snow at lower elevations to be moist or wet due to rain.

Crust layers from November and October can be found 40-100 cm below the surface. These layers produced large avalanches with explosive triggers around Dec 13-14, but since then have appeared to gain strength, but may become overloaded with all the recent snow.

Snowpack depths range between 60-130 cm at higher elevations and taper rapidly below treeline.

• Storm slabs in motion may step down to deeper layers resulting in large avalanches.
• Be aware of the potential for large avalanches due to the presence of a persistent slab.
• Avoid exposure to overhead avalanche terrain, large avalanches may reach the end of run out zones.
• Avoid all avalanche terrain during periods of heavy loading from new snow and wind.