Avalanche Forecast

High -

TONIGHT: Light flurries. Accumulation trace. Ridge wind light, east. Alpine Temperature near -5. Freezing level 500 m.SATURDAY: Mostly cloudy. Ridge wind light, northeast. Alpine Temperature near -4. Freezing level 1800 m.SUNDAY: Mostly cloudy, light flurries. Accumulation 5-10 cm. Ridge wind light, northwest. Alpine Temperature near -4. Freezing level 1500 m.MONDAY: Mostly cloudy, light flurries. Accumulation trace. Ridge wind light to moderate, west. Alpine temperature near -5. Freezing level 1500 m.

Thursday there were reports of small (size 1) natural and skier triggered avalanches in steep, north-facing terrain.Wednesday there was a report of a skier triggered size 1 wind slab on a north aspect at 2000 m.Earlier in the week; a natural avalanche cycle to size 3.5 occurred. These avalanches were primarily wet loose avalanches on sunny aspects; however, some slab releases did step down to deeper weak layers (with 50-70 cm crowns) on west and southerly aspects, as well as skier triggered wind slab avalanches to size 1.5 on northerly aspects in the alpine, and a natural size 3 cornice failure on a northwest aspect in the alpine that triggered the most recent storm snow.

A light dusting of new snow now covers a crust on all but high elevation north and east facing slopes where cold, dry snow sits above a well settled snowpack. Deeper persistent weak layers from January and December are generally considered dormant, but could wake up with a surface avalanche stepping down, cornice fall, or a human trigger in a shallow or variable-depth snowpack area. These layers consist of sun crust, surface hoar and/or facets.