Avalanche Forecast

Good

The stationary ridge of high pressure is expected to bring continued dry conditions to the region for the forecast period. Alpine temperatures are forecast to be about 3.0` for Sunday and Monday, and then dropping on Tuesday. Winds should remain mainly light from the west.

Recent observations mostly involve snowballing and several wet loose sluffs up to Size 2 on sun-exposed slopes. A few wind slabs were observed to size 2 in the north of the region. They were formed by strong west winds a few days ago and have most likely gained some strength.

Above freezing temperatures at higher elevations have caused snow surfaces to moisten on sun-exposed slopes; however, a nightly crust recovery is likely with forecast clear skies. The surface snow on northerly aspects is dry and wind-pressed with continued surface hoar growth at lower elevations. Below this, 40-80 cm of settling storm snow sits on a persistent weakness of buried surface hoar, facetted snow, and /or a crust. Recent snowpack tests show that this interface is gaining strength but may still be susceptible to human triggering . No significant weaknesses have been reported recently below this in the mid snowpack layers. Near the base of the snowpack, a crust/facet layer exists, which is now unlikely to be triggered, except perhaps by warming or heavy triggers in steep, shallow, rocky terrain where more facetting has taken place.