Avalanche Forecast

Moderate - Due to the number of field observations

Freezing levels dropping to near valley bottoms overnight combined with moderate southwest winds and 3-5 cm of new snow. Overcast with flurries or light snow on Thursday and moderate southwest winds. Freezing near valley bottoms and -5 in the alpine. Clearing and cooler on Friday with light winds and alpine temperatures near -10. Overcast with moderate southeast winds and a chance of flurries on Saturday.

Expect developing storm slabs to be easy to trigger where they are sitting on a weak layer of surface hoar and/or a crust left behind after the cold and windy weather. Full depth avalanches continue to be a concern due to the weak facetted snowpack below the hard wind slabs left behind after strong winds from several directions. This deep persistent weak layer may take prolonged warm weather with consistent snowfall to settle and bond.

20-25 cm of new storm snow that has been transported by the southwest winds now sits on a mix of old surfaces left behind after the recent cold and windy weather. Expect the new storm snow to bond poorly where it is sitting on a weak layer of buried surface hoar and/or a hard old wind polished surface. Most areas continue to have a shallow and weak snowpack that is about 120-150 cm at treeline. In general, the snowpack above treeline has been heavily wind effected; this has resulted in hard wind slabs above weak facettted crystals. The snowpack below treeline in sheltered areas may be unconsolidated with foot penetration close to the ground.