Avalanche Forecast

A significant pattern change is expected to commence Saturday as a strong ridge begins to build.  After Friday night, temperatures are expected to remain well above freezing at all elevations for the foreseeable future.  SATURDAY: Scattered cloud cover, freezing level beginning around 2000 m, climbing to 2500 m in the afternoon, no significant precipitation, very light southwest wind.  SUNDAY: Clear skies,  freezing level beginning around 2500 m, climbing to around 3000 m in the afternoon, no significant precipitation, light variable wind.  MONDAY: Mostly clear skies, freezing level holding around 3000 m all day, no significant precipitation, light variable wind.

No new avalanches have been reported in this region in the last week, but if you're out in the mountains you'll see lots of old loose wet and wet slab avalanche activity from the last big warm up. 

Cornices are large, fragile, and could trigger deep slab avalanches that run to valley bottoms. Monitoring the overnight freeze of the snow surface is very important during the spring. If the snow surface does not freeze overnight or if the crust is only a few cm thick, the effect of daytime heating and solar radiation will weaken the snowpack much more quickly than it would if there is a well frozen thick crust. This is because the crust must first melt before the sun can weaken the snowpack. Deeply buried weak layers in the mid snowpack and near the ground still have the potential to wake up and become active with a rapid warm up. While unlikely, releases on these deeply buried weak layers would result in very large avalanches. Glide cracks are widespread, active, and best avoided. Low elevation and thin snowpack areas have become isothermal, meaning the snowpack is 0 degrees Celsius throughout. An isothermal snowpack is more prone to full depth wet slab avalanches during the heat of the day.