A touchy surface hoar layer below the recent storm snow has heightened the chance of skier triggered slides. It is a good time for conservative terrain choices.
Summary
Weather Forecast
Sunny with cloudy periods, a trace of snow and alpine temperatures in the -12C range. Thursday should give us light flurries, moderate westerly wind and alpine temperatures of -10C.
Snowpack Summary
40cm of storm snow sits on top of the Dec 15 surface hoar/persistent weak layer. On steeper solar aspects this layer is a crust and/or a crust with small surface hoar on top. The crust runs well up into the alpine on steep south aspects. Deeper in the pack there are a series of crust layers that are currently well bonded to neighboring layers.
Avalanche Summary
A natural avalanche cycle has been continuing over the last 48hrs with over 40 avalanches up to size 3 recorded in the highway corridor. Most slides have been in the size 1.5 to 2 range failing on the Dec 15th surface hoar layer. Avalanches have been on all aspects and elevations including numerous below treeline events.
Confidence
Forecast snowfall amounts are uncertain on Thursday