Avalanche Forecast

Good - -1

Friday: Dry with increasing cloud cover and flurries possible in the evening. Freezing levels in valley bottoms and light winds. Saturday: Cloudy but dry with moderate precipitation starting in the evening. Freezing levels are expected to rise to 1300m and southwesterly winds increase to moderate with the onset of precipitation. Sunday: Isolated moderate snow flurries with strong southwesterly winds.

Widespread natural avalanche activity up to Size 3 was reported on Wednesday. Fresh storm and wind slabs, as well as deeply buried persistent slabs remain sensitive to human triggers.

Weaknesses within and under the 60-100+cm of storm snow will need some time to settle and strengthen. Persistent weaknesses remain a concern in the northern part of the region. Buried surface hoar on sheltered treeline slopes and below and facets with associated crusts in exposed treeline and alpine areas are probably down well over a metre in most places, and facets lurk near the base of the snowpack in shallow rocky areas. Wind-loading has resulted in highly variable slab thicknesses with the potential for fractures triggered in highly sensitive thin slab areas to propagate into highly destructive deep slab avalanches. Furthermore, weaknesses within the slab create the potential for step-down fractures.