Avalanche Forecast

Good - The weather pattern is stable

The ridge of high pressure will break down somewhat allowing for overcast skies and very light snowfall on Thursday and Friday. By Saturday the ridge will rebuild in all its glory bringing mainly sunny skies for the weekend. Freezing levels will hover at or near valley bottom for the forecast period, with ridge top winds remaining mainly light from the northwest.

On Monday, several loose wet avalanches to size 2 occurred on sun-exposed slopes. We also received a report of a size 2.5 deep persistent avalanche which was triggered by a cornice fall. With a general cooling pattern forecast for the next few days, I would expect avalanche activity of this nature to taper-off.

Light amounts of wind-pressed snow (5-20 cm) cover the previous variable snow surface of surface hoar, crusts, or wind affected snow depending on aspect and elevation. The "Valentine's Day" crust is just below the surface and is now strong and thick in most places. Isolated thin wind slabs may still be reactive in high elevation lee terrain, and cornices remain large and weak. The late-Jan crust/surface hoar layer (up to 100 cm deep) and the mid-January surface hoar (80-120 cm deep) are generally dormant, and chances of triggering these weaknesses have decreased dramatically. However, triggering may be possible with a large input such as cornice fall, or an avalanche stepping down, especially on sun drenched slopes.