Avalanche Forecast

Moderate - Uncertainty is due to extremely variable snowpack conditions reported through the region.

Tuesday Night: Cloudy with isolated flurries, alpine low -7 moderate northwest wind.

Wednesday: Cloudy with sunny periods and isolated flurries, alpine temperature -7, light to moderate west wind.

Thursday: Cloudy with sunny periods and isolated flurries accumulating to 5 cm in most areas, alpine temperature -7, moderate west wind.

Friday: Cloudy with sunny periods and isolated flurries, alpine temperature -7, light northwest wind.

Reports of recent avalanche activity have been limited to explosive and skier control work at operations in the north part of the region. Many of these avalanches were triggered in wind slab or in thin snowpack areas and stepped down to the persistent layers of weak snow crystals at the bottom of the snowpack. Helicopter explosive control work conducted Monday and Tuesday produced a variety of sizes of avalanches up to size 3, with crowns as deep as 1 m.

Last week's storm snow has seen some redistribution by the wind. Isolated soft wind slabs can be found in the lee of features such as ridge tops. Below the 15-35 cm of storm snow from last week sits on surface hoar in sheltered areas and various wind-affected surfaces elsewhere. The old wind-affected snow sits over a crust on solar aspects in the alpine or a surface hoar/crust combination around treeline. This layer is buried 25-50 cm and seems to be isolated to the north of the region or areas with a relatively deeper snowpack.

The lower snowpack is composed of decomposing crusts, facets, and depth hoar. These very weak crystals supporting the weight of the snowpack are a major concern and are the basis for the deep persistent slab problem.