The region could pick up a few cm of new snow Friday night, but that is expected to have little impact on avalanche hazard. Continue to minimize exposure to steep slopes as temperatures warm through the day, especially in areas with fresh snow.
Confidence
Moderate - Timing, track, or intensity of incoming weather system is uncertain
Weather Forecast
The weather models are having a pretty tough time getting a handle on the current weather pattern and even the professional meteorologists are pulling out their hair. The freezing levels are thought to be fairly accurate, but the wind and precipitation values should be taken as a suggestion at best.FRIDAY NIGHT: Light to moderate southwest wind, freezing level beginning at 2000 m lowering to around 1600 m, 1 to 3 cm of snow possible at upper elevation.SATURDAY: Scattered cloud cover, freezing level around 1900 m, strong to extreme southwest wind, no significant snowfall expected.SUNDAY: Broken cloud cover, freezing level around 2000 m, moderate to strong southwest wind, 1 to 3 cm of snow possible at upper elevations.MONDAY: Scattered cloud cover, freezing level around 2200 m, strong west wind, 1 to 5 cm of snow possible at upper elevations.
Avalanche Summary
No recent avalanche activity to report.
Snowpack Summary
Wet flurries and rain have sprinkled a spring snowpack and it looks like that trend will continue into the weekend. During the heat of the day and especially under direct sun, the snowpack has become moist or wet, on all but north-facing alpine areas where isolated dry snow persists on a cold, wind-affected snowpack.Lower down in the snowpack, the base is composed of weak facets (sugary snow). In areas that remained more sheltered from the heat (like north-alpine), human triggering of persistent slabs on this layer may still be possible; especially in rocky alpine terrain with a shallow or highly variable depth snowpack.With spring conditions, the avalanche hazard will fluctuate greatly depending on the strength of the overnight freeze and how quickly the snowpack is warmed up each day.
Problems
Loose Wet
Loose Wet avalanches are the release of wet unconsolidated snow or slush. These avalanches typically occur within layers of wet snow near the surface of the snowpack, but they may quickly gouge into lower snowpack layers. Like Loose Dry Avalanches, they start at a point and entrain snow as they move downhill, forming a fan-shaped avalanche. Other names for loose-wet avalanches include point-release avalanches or sluffs. Loose Wet avalanches can trigger slab avalanches that break into deeper snow layers.