Avalanche Forecast

High -

TONIGHT: Flurries. Accumulation 3-8 cm. Ridge wind light, northwest. Alpine Temperature near -5. Freezing level 800 m.FRIDAY: Cloudy, light flurries. Accumulation up to 2 cm. Ridge wind light, southwest. Alpine Temperature near -5. Freezing level 1600 m.SATURDAY: Mostly cloudy. Ridge wind light, northeast. Alpine Temperature near -6. Freezing level 1500 m.SUNDAY: Mostly cloudy, light flurries. Accumulation 2-4 cm. Ridge wind light, northwest. Alpine Temperature near -5. Freezing level 1500 m.

A natural avalanche cycle to size 3.5 occurred over past several days. 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. Wednesday there was a report of a skier triggered size 1 wind slab on a north aspect at 2000 m.On Tuesday there were few reports of skier triggered wind slab avalanches to size 1.5 on northerly aspects in the alpine. There was also a report of 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.