Avalanche Forecast

Moderate - Freezing levels are uncertain on Tuesday

Cloudy with sunny periods. No new snow. Temperature in the alpine of -7.0. WInds will be moderate to strong from the west - northwest. Freezing levels in the valley bottom for Sunday and for the next few days afterward.

Today's observations were limited due to the hellacious winds and strong convective squalls for most of the morning. We suspect there was a medium sized avalanche cycle very likely in the alpine elevations and some natural avalanche activity at treeline but once again our observations were limited.

Roughly 45 and up to 70 cm is sitting on the top of the Jan 6th facet interface with today's (Feb 6th 2016) new storm snow. The warm temperatures and the strong to extreme gusty winds throughout today means now that the slab overlying the layer will very likely have cohesive characteristics and these wind slabs will be found on lee aspects. Storm slabs overlying the Jan 6th layer will be present everywhere else where the wind has not scrubbed the snow clean off the terrain (i.e. windward prone features such as high ridge lines). The midpack and basal layers of the snowpack are mostly weak except in places at treeline and above where the snowpack has a depth greater than 80 cm and is evenly distributed.