Avalanche Forecast

Fair - Intensity of incoming weather is uncertain

Tuesday: Cloudy, with precipitation building late in the day as a surface low approaches. Winds should be westerly 50-70km/h and freezing levels may climb to 1000m.Wednesday: The surface low should bring moderate to locally heavy snowfalls. Freezing levels may reach 1500m as the low advances with southwest winds reaching 60km/h.Thursday: The low should pass leaving occasional flurries and eventually sunny breaks. Winds turn northeasterly and diminish to 20km/h.

Isolated windslabs in lee terrain to size 1.0 and continued sluffing in steep terrain to size 1.0.

Up to 15cm of low density new snow has fallen recently. Moderate south/southwest winds have redistributed this new snow into small windslabs in immediate lee features in the alpine and exposed treeline.The January 4th interface consists predominantly of loose facets up to 30cm deep. In isolated locations (sheltered treeline and below treeline) surface hoar up to 12mm is present. There is a 1-3cm sun crust on steep south and west facing terrain. Above this interface is another surface hoar layer, creating a reactive sandwich of weak crystals. The storm snow is bonding poorly to this interface.The midpack is well bonded and strong. The November 28 surface hoar is still being found in isolated, sheltered below treeline locations buried 95-120cm. The deep crust/facet combo from early November still exists and concern remains (although unlikely) for triggering from a shallow spot.