Avalanche Forecast

Good

High pressure persists over the interior for the forecast period.  A weak disturbance will result in increased cloud cover for Tuesday.  Treeline temperatures will be around -6 and alpine winds should remain light.  The south of the region may see light scattered flurries but less than 1 cm is expected.  Wednesday and Thursday should see a mix of sun and cloud, treeline temperatures around -5, and light alpine winds.

No new avalanches were reported at publish time on Monday. On Sunday, explosive control produced avalanches to size 2.5.  These occurred on N-SE aspects between 2200 and 2500m elevation.  Slab depth varied from 30 to 90cm. On Saturday, isolated natural activity was reported up to size 2.5 above 2400m.

A surface crust exists to around 2100m and is generally supportive to skiers. Above this elevation is dry storm snow which is settling out and faceting.  A new layer of surface hoar is currently forming on the snow surface.  In exposed alpine terrain, strong southerly winds last week may have resulted in variable distribution of the surface snow and the formation of wind slabs. A thick rain crust with facets from early November is buried over 1 m down. Snowpack tests on this deep weak layers are showing improving results, but in some locations these layers are still reactive and has the potential to release large slab avalanches.