Avalanche Forecast

Moderate - Forecast snowfall amounts are uncertain.

Friday Night: Flurries, accumulation 5-15 cm. Alpine temperature -4 C. Moderate to strong southwest wind. Freezing level 1500 m.

Saturday: Flurries, accumulation 5-10 cm. Alpine temperature -6 C. Moderate west wind. Freezing level 1000 m.

Sunday: Flurries. Alpine temperature -10 C. Moderate west wind.

Monday: Mainly cloudy with scattered flurries. Alpine temperature -11. Moderate southwest wind.

On Wednesday there was a report of a remotely triggered size 2 wind slab avalanche in the alpine. On Wednesday and Thursday there were reports of numerous naturally triggered storm slab avalanches to size 2.5 and 3 on all aspects at all elevations.

40-70 cm of new snow fell through the last week. All this recent snow has buried a layer of surface hoar found at all elevations. In some places the surface hoar may be combined with sun crust on steep sun-exposed aspects.

A weak layer that was buried December 26 is now approximately 50-80 cm deep and may present as surface hoar in sheltered areas, sun crust on steep solar aspects and/or a melt freeze crust below 1700 m.

An additional layer of surface hoar buried mid December is 90-160 cm deep. Avalanche activity on this layer has tapered off, but there is still concern for heavy loads to step down to this layer. A crust from late November is now over 160 cm deep. Concern for this layer is limited to rocky or variable snowpack depth areas in the alpine where it most likely exists as a combination of facets and crust.

• Be alert to conditions that change with elevation and wind exposure.
• Avoid freshly wind loaded terrain features.
• Storm slabs in motion may step down to deeper layers resulting in large avalanches.
• Be aware of the potential for large avalanches due to the presence of a persistent slab.