Avalanche Forecast
Regions: Northwest Coastal.
Confidence
Low - Due to the number and quality of field observations
Weather Forecast
Saturday: Mix of sun and cloud with isolated flurries and alpine temperatures near -10. Ridgetop winds light from the North West and freezing levels at valley bottom.Sunday: Mix of sun and cloud. Alpine temperatures near -8 and freezing levels at valley bottom. Ridgetop winds light from the West.Monday: Cloudy with 10-25 mm of precipitation. Ridgetop winds moderate from the South West. Alpine temperatures rising to 0 degrees and freezing levels near 1200 m.
Avalanche Summary
On Thursday, reports indicate natural slab avalanche activity up to size 2 from steep alpine features and numerous loose dry size 1 avalanches from steep terrain at all elevations. Please consider submitting your observations this weekend to the Mountain Information Network.
Snowpack Summary
Recent accumulated storm snow amounts are from 100-130cm and sit on a supportive 5-10 cm thick crust that was buried a week ago. The new snow seems to be settling quickly, however; deeper deposits of wind slab may be found on leeward slopes. Digging deeper in the snowpack exists a crust/facet combo buried at the end of October. This crust may exist anywhere from 90 cm-150 cm down. Recent snowpack test results are showing hard compression tests with sudden collapse results. I would keep this on my radar through the weekend to see how the snowpack adjusts to the new load.
Avalanche Problems
Storm Slabs
Aspects: All aspects.
Elevations: All elevations.
Likelihood: Likely
Expected Size: 1 - 2
Deep Persistent Slabs
Aspects: All aspects.
Elevations: Alpine, Treeline.
Likelihood: Unlikely - Possible
Expected Size: 2 - 4