Avalanche Forecast

Moderate -

Monday night: light snow, 5 to 10 cm with moderate southwest winds and a low of -2 at 1800m.

Tuesday: cloudy with flurries bringing 5 to 10 cm of snow . Moderate southwest winds and freezing levels rising to 1900 m.

Wednesday: a mix of sun a cloud with light flurries bringing trace amounts of snow. Light southwest winds and freezing levels rising to 1700 m.

Thursday: cloudy with some light flurries bringing trace amounts of new snow. Light to moderate southwest winds and freezing levels rising to 1800 m.

Over the past couple days several slab and loose dry avalanches up to size 1.5 were reported through out the region. Several small cornice failures were also reported. Avalanche activity was generally at treeline and on north and east aspects.

ON Friday ski cutting produced several slab avalanches up to size 2. These avalanches were wind loaded features on northerly aspects and all failed on persistent weak layers from February.

New wind slabs will likely form on north and east aspects at treeline and above in exposed terrain throughout the day. Up to 20cm of recent snow sits over a variety of surfaces including a sun crust on solar and facets. Moist snow could be observed at low elevations.

The late February layer is down 30 to 50 cm . This layer consists of a crust on solar aspects and all aspects at lower elevations. This layer presents as facets on northerly terrain and surface hoar in sheltered treeline features.

A layer of surface hoar from late January has not produced recent avalanche activity but it can still be identified 40-50 cm deep near Golden.

• Wind slabs are most reactive during their formation.
• Be careful with wind loaded pockets, especially near ridge crests and roll-overs.
• Wind slabs may be poorly bonded to the underlying crust.