Avalanche Forecast

Moderate - Due to the number of field observations

Wednesday: Overcast skies / Extreme southwest winds / Freezing level at valley bottomThursday: Mix of sun and cloud / Extreme southwest winds / Freezing level at 1200Friday: Mix of sun and cloud / Extreme southwest winds / Freezing level at valley bottom

In recent days, explosives and human-triggered wind slab avalanches have occurred to size 2. In the southeast corner of the region, a few explosive-triggered avalanches have stepped down to deeper faceted layers producing persistent slab avalanches in the size 2.5-3 range. Looking forward, continued extreme southwest winds are expected to promote ongoing wind slab activity. There is a bit of uncertainty regarding how the new snow will bond to old surfaces which formed during last week's cold snap. Due to these potentially persistent weak layers, recently formed wind slabs may remain sensitive to human triggering for some time.

Since Sunday night, up to 40cm of new snow has fallen. In exposed terrain, strong to extreme winds have redistributed much of this snow into fresh wind slabs. The new snow buries a variable surface that developed over the last week of cold, dry, and windy conditions. This interface consists of scoured surfaces and wind slabs in wind exposed terrain, widespread faceting of the upper snowpack, and surface hoar up to 20 mm in sheltered areas. In sheltered areas, there may be another layer of surface hoar in the upper snowpack which was buried around December 10. Observations have been limited, however, the reports we've received suggest the mid and lower snowpack are somewhat unconsolidated and faceting exists to varying degrees.Below treeline, the snowpack is very shallow and early season hazards such as stumps, rocks, and open creeks are still a major concern.