Avalanche Forecast
Issued: Feb 18th, 2018 4:00PM
The alpine rating is Persistent Slabs and Wind Slabs.
, the treeline rating is , and the below treeline rating is Known problems includeWhile avalanche activity is tapering, give wide margin to steep, open and planar features.
Summary
Weather Forecast
Cold temperatures will persist in the forecast region for another few days. Expect lows in the -20 range. Very light precip is expected over the next 3 days, 2-5cm, which is not enough to effect the danger ratings. Wind velocity will be reasonable, generally light to moderate from the N-NW.
Snowpack Summary
Windslabs are common in open areas in the alpine, however the cold temps are making them considerably less touchy. A deep slab overlies midpack weaknesses of surface hoar, crusts, and facets. The depth of these slabs varies from 75 cm to 150 cm. These layers have been producing very large avalanches over the past week.
Avalanche Summary
No new avalanches were reported or observed today. Natural activity has been tapering off, but potential still exists.
Confidence
Due to the number of field observations on Sunday
Problems
Persistent Slabs
A 100-125cm dense slab of January storm snow overlies three weak layers in the mid snowpack: Jan 16, Jan 6, and Dec 15. All are a mix of sun crust, surface hoar and facets depending on the aspect and elevation.
Avoid steep convexities or areas with a thin or variable snowpack.Use caution on open slopes and convex rolls
Aspects: All aspects.
Elevations: All elevations.
Likelihood
Expected Size
Wind Slabs
Hard wind slabs exist in the alpine lees, however recent cold temps will likely induce a sluggish/slow behavior if triggered.
Be careful with wind loaded pockets, especially near ridge crests and roll-overs.
Aspects: North, North East, East, South East.
Elevations: Alpine.
Likelihood
Expected Size
Valid until: Feb 19th, 2018 4:00PM