Avalanche Forecast

Fair

Thursday: Expect clouds to lift and precipitation to tail off, replaced by mixed skies later in the day. Winds should be light from the north with alpine temperatures reaching -4.Friday: Mostly sunny, with continued light northerly winds and temperatures reaching -4.Saturday: The ridge remains in place, yielding light northerlies and mostly sunny skies. Alpine temperatures may reach -1 with the freezing level climbing to 1200m.

We have reports of natural, explosive and rider triggered windslabs up to size 1.5 failing on northwest through east facing terrain These are failing at treeline and in the alpine. Remote and accidental triggering have been observed.

A further 10-20 of new snow has fallen bringing storm totals to between 50-75cm (deepest amounts in the southern portion of the region). Consistent southerly winds continue, building windslabs in lee terrain. Newly buried surfaces include old windslabs, temperature and sun crusts. The new snow is bonding reasonably well at this interface with the most concern being the crusts on south and west facing terrain. The January 23rd interface (crusts, facets and surface hoar crystals) lingers in isolated locations. This layer seems to be rounding and bonding under current conditions. The mid pack is generally well settled with the average snowpack depth at treeline around 180 cm.