Avalanche Forecast

Moderate - Forecast snowfall amounts are uncertain

SATURDAY: Cloudy with flurries bringing another 5-10 cm overnight, light winds and freezing levels around 1300 m.SUNDAY: Cloudy with light flurries, light southerly winds and freezing levels around 1400 m.MONDAY: Cloudy with light flurries bringing another 5-10 cm, moderate southwesterly wind and freezing level around 1400 m.

Reports from Thursday and Friday morning include natural, ski-cut and explosives controlled 15-40 cm thick storm and wind slab avalanches up to Size 2.5. Other reports include continued natural wet avalanche activity up to Size 2.5 at lower elevations below the rain line. A MIN report from Sunday describes a remotely triggered size 3 avalanche on London Ridge. Click here for more details. Touchy new storm slabs are sensitive to light triggers and have the potential to step down and trigger persistent slab avalanches.

Expect to find 25-40 cm of fresh snow bonding poorly to buried surface hoar and/or a crust, and blown into touchy wind slabs at higher elevations. At lower elevations the snow surface is wet and cohesionless and should soon freeze into a solid crust. Rapidly settling storm snow from last week is still bonding poorly to the previous snow surface from early February, which is now down 60-80 cm and includes a sun crust on steep sun-exposed slopes, faceted snow, as well as surface hoar on sheltered open slopes. The mid and lower snowpack are generally well settled and stable in deeper snowpack areas but may be faceted and weaker in shallower areas.