Avalanche Forecast

A few small windslabs up to size 1 were observed in steeper alpine areas. These occurred on lee (N and E) aspects.

Alpine terrain looks like a typical early December winter with many ridges blown free of snow and lee features containing windslabs. Treeline areas are much the same although some areas that are more protected have been spared from the recent strong westerly winds. Up to treeline expect to encounter a rain crust down 30-50cm that formed in an early December storm. So far failures on this crust have been few, but as it develops we expect this layer to become a common bed surface for avalanches. A surface hoar layer is also found up to treeline beneath this crust that was producing moderate results in snowpack tests. Deeper in the snowpack a weak basal layer persists that was a thin melt freeze crust in some areas, or just weak basal facets and depth hoar. Thin areas are still common places to trigger these windslabs which are likely to propagate across a feature so keep this in mind as you travel.

Be curious and dig into the snowpack! Share your observations on the MIN.

A small front is expected to cross the region thursday with 5-10cm cm of snow fall expected. Winds will will be moderate out of the SW with temperatures around -2C as a daytime high.

More details can be found in the Mountain Weather Forecast.

• Watch for newly formed and reactive wind slabs as you transition into wind affected terrain.
• Approach lee and cross-loaded slopes with caution.