Avalanche Forecast

Good

Tonight and Monday: An arctic ridge is building and is there to stay for a little while. Expect mainly sunny skies, moderate to strong NE winds, and cold temperatures (-18 C in the alpine). Tuesday: The ridge is gaining more strength spreading more dry and cold weather. Strong NE winds, partly cloudy skies, alpine temperatures around -20 C. Wednesday: More of the same. Mainly clear skies, cold temperatures but winds should diminish  to lighter speeds from the N.

Skier triggered slab avalanches size 1 in thin windslabs in the alpine were reported in the Northern part of the region. There was also report of a glide crack release size 2 on a NE aspect at treeline elevation.

The 5-10 cm of recent snow has been redistributed by NE winds most likely creating pockets of relatively thin windslabs on immediate lee features in the alpine and at treeline. These windslabs or the light dry snow are sitting on weak surfaces like a widespread crust or on the late January surface hoar layer sheltered areas. At this time, there is not enough snow above this weak layer to create an avalanche danger. The deep persistent layer of weak facets continues to be a concern in shallow snowpack areas, however the re-frozen upper snowpack may make triggering less likely. At the surface of the snowpack, there is widespread growth of surface hoar and surface facetting that will continue with the forecasted clear and cold temperatures.