Lizard-Flathead

Wind and snow will build fresh wind slabs overnight Friday into Saturday. Avoid lingering in the runout of avalanche paths as a cornice fall could trigger a large avalanche.

Low - Timing, track, or intensity of incoming weather system is uncertain

There is significant uncertainty regarding precipitation amounts for Friday into Saturday. Unsettled weather and isolated flurries Sunday onwards. SATURDAY: 5-20cm possible Friday overnight with strong southwest winds.Light flurries easing off throughout the day on Saturday. Freezing level 1500m , alpine temperature around -4 C.SUNDAY: Sunny with some cloudy breaks, moderate southwest wind, freezing level 1600mMONDAY: Isolated flurries with 2-4 cm possible. Moderate southwest wind, freezing level around 1700 m with alpine temperature around -2 C.

On Thursday, a few small storm slabs were reported to run naturally overnight in steep alpine terrain and then also react to explosives in the morning (size 1-1.5). More evidence of large deep persistent slab avalanches from last weekend's avalanche cycle were also reported from the Barnes Lake and Cold Feet areas.Expect wind slabs to develop throughout the day on Friday into Saturday as another pulse of snow and wind arrives in the afternoon. However, the primary concern is the potential for deep persistent slab avalanches triggered by natural triggers such as a cornice fall. See the forecaster blog for advice on managing a low probability - high consequence problem (here) and the accompanying photos (here).

Light precipitation has delivered 15-25 cm of heavy snow at higher elevations, while rain has soaked the snow below about 1800 m. The new snow is bonding well to a thick rain crust that has capped the snowpack at all elevations. Daytime warming and sunlight tend to break down the crust in some areas, but it remains frozen on northerly alpine terrain. Isolated basal facets exist in shallow snowpack areas and still have the potential to produce destructive full-depth avalanches.