Avalanche Forecast

Poor - Due to the number of field observations

The dry ridge of high pressure will persist bringing mainly clear skies for the entire forecast period. Ridgetop temperatures should hover around -23 for each day, while ridge top winds will be mainly moderate from the northwest.

Wind slabs to size 2.5 were observed in high elevation terrain in the south of the region on Saturday. In one reported case, a wind slab in motion stepped down to the buried December crust. Since then, observations have been very limited. With forecast northwest winds, we could see a new round of wind slab activity as surface snow gets redistributed onto south-facing slopes.

On the surface, up to 30cm of low-density snow exists. In the alpine and at treeline, strong to locally extreme winds have been conducive to blowing this snow into stiff and reactive wind slabs in exposed lee areas. 50 - 70 cm below the surface (more in wind affected areas) you may find a crust which formed in December. The crust, which may have surface hoar on top of it, may extend into the alpine to at least 2100 m. Where the crust exists, it may be bridging triggers from penetrating to deeper persistent weaknesses that formed earlier in the season. However, on high alpine slopes above where the rain crust formed, or in areas where rain didn't occur, deeply buried facets may still be susceptible to triggers.