Avalanche Forecast

High -

SATURDAY NIGHT: Partly cloudy, freezing level dropping to 1500 m.SUNDAY: Mostly clear skies, moderate northwest winds, alpine temperature near -2 C, freezing level 1400 m.MONDAY: Increasing clouds over the day, light northwest winds, alpine temperature -3 C, freezing level below valley bottom.TUESDAY: Mostly clear skies, light northwest winds, alpine temperature -1 C, freezing level below valley bottom with inversion conditions possible.

On Friday, One small slab avalanche was triggered by a skier on the surface hoar described in the Snowpack Summary was triggered by a skier. Otherwise, small loose wet avalanches were observed. Check out the following MIN reports for other recent reports of avalanches on the surface hoar: here and here.

On the snow surface, you will likely find a sun crust on south aspects but still dry snow on northerly aspects. Beneath this, around 30 to 60 cm of snow sits on a sun crust on southerly aspects, a temperature crust below around 1700 m on all aspects, and feathery surface hoar in areas sheltered by the wind at all elevation bands. The surface hoar may be most pronounced on west, north, and east aspects below 2100 m.Below this, the snowpack is generally well-settled. In certain parts of the region, you may still find a weak layer of surface hoar buried about 60 to 120 cm in sheltered areas around treeline. There haven't been any recent avalanches on this layer but the likelihood of triggering it may increase this weekend with warm air temperatures.