Avalanche Forecast

Moderate - Forecast snowfall amounts are uncertain on Friday

Light northwesterly flow will continue tomorrow with cloud, a few sunny periods and no precip.  Freezing levels will remain in valley bottom.  The upper flow will shift to the west with moderate to strong winds and some light snowfall (10-15cm's) for Friday along the divide.

Very little to no avalanche activity this past week either naturally, explosive or human triggered.

Light winds have prevailed this week and so very little wind effect. Colder temperatures are creating some recrystallization of the surface snow into facets and some smaller 2-3mm surface hoar has been noted at treeline elevations the past couple of days. Keep this in mind when more snow arrives accompanied by wind. The main issue with this snowpack at the moment is the Dec 4rd interface which is approximately 30-45 cms below the surface depending on elevation. Surface hoar and facets exist at this interface on the the north aspects (especially below 2300 meters) and temperature crusts and wind impacted surfaces everywhere else. The storm slab that sits on top of this interface is quite soft for the most part, so very little tension to initiate at the moment.  In the higher alpine elevations, more snow and wind effect has been observed and these are the places where the Dec 4th layer will be more sensitive to triggering.