The storm ended last weekend, but large and destructive avalanches are still possible. Remain conservative in your terrain selection.
Confidence
Fair - Due to the number of field observations
Weather Forecast
A ridge of high pressure will maintain mainly dry conditions for Wednesday and Thursday. For both days, expect a mix of sun and cloud with very light flurries and alpine temperatures of about -9. Winds should be light to moderate from the northwest on Wednesday switching to light and southwesterly by Thursday. A moist and warm southwest flow will bring snowfall to the region late Friday with freezing levels creeping up to about 1500m.
Avalanche Summary
No new avalanches have been reported, although the November persistent weaknesses continue to be our primary concern. Avalanche activity on these deep layers is expected to be less frequent, although the potential consequences of a release continue to be severe.
Snowpack Summary
A dusting of low density snow overlies a variety of surfaces which may include wind slabs at higher elevations and a hard rain crust that extends to about 1900m. Approximately 100cm below the surface you'll likely find weak crystals which formed throughout early and mid-November. These weak crystals include facets on a hard rain crust, and surface hoar (which may also sit on a crust on steep southerly slopes). Recent snowpack tests suggest the layers can still be human triggered, and if triggered, are capable of producing wide propagations and large avalanches.
Problems
Persistent Slabs
Persistent Slab avalanches are the release of a cohesive layer of snow (a slab) in the middle to upper snowpack, when the bond to an underlying persistent weak layer breaks. Persistent layers include: surface hoar, depth hoar, near-surface facets, or faceted snow. Persistent weak layers can continue to produce avalanches for days, weeks or even months, making them especially dangerous and tricky. As additional snow and wind events build a thicker slab on top of the persistent weak layer, this avalanche problem may develop into a Deep Persistent Slab.