Avalanche Forecast

Fair - Wind effect is extremely variable

Tonight and Friday: The ridge bringing cold and dry conditions is still present but is weakening. Expect clear skies, light to moderate NE winds and temperatures around -14 C.Saturday and Sunday: Expect very similar conditions for Saturday with a bit more clouds on Sunday.

There has been multiple skier triggered size 1 avalanches reported yesterday. These would have initiated in windslabs on lee features mostly in the alpine.

Snow totals from a week ago ranged from 5-20 cm with the greatest accumulations in the south of the region. This snow is faceting quickly in the cold temps. In wind exposed terrain, especially in the alpine, winds continue to form shallow wind slabs that have recently been very easy to trigger by skiers. These variable wind slabs should stick around a bit longer than we're accustomed to as they are resting on a weak layer composed of large grained surface hoar (widespread in most sheltered and shaded areas at all elevations), a sun crust on open south facing slopes, faceted grains (in colder areas or areas with a thinner snowpack), or a combination of the above. Most of the snowpack is generally well consolidated. However, in thinner snowpack areas a facet/crust weakness and basal facets exist near or at the bottom of the snowpack. The depth of these layer makes human triggering unlikely, but the consequences of doing so could be disastrous.