A Pacific storm pushing into the Central Rockies is going to bring moderately heavy snowfall to the region beginning Friday. It has already been preceded by moderate snowfall on Thursday with mild temps and mod-strong SW winds forming soft slabs.
Confidence
Fair - Intensity of incoming weather is uncertain
Weather Forecast
An upper low pushing in from the west is going to bring clouds and mixed light precip to the region by Friday afternoon. Snowfall rates will increase over Friday night on into Saturday. Total forecasted precip by Sunday is in the range of 25-30mm of water equivalent (=@25-30cm snow!).
Avalanche Summary
No new reported and now new obs due to obscured conditions.
Snowpack Summary
Moderately heavy snowfall began early Thursday AM and kept up most of the day. At least 10cm of storm snow at treeline by 1500 hours Thursday PM. Daytime highs crept close to zero degrees so rapid formation of soft slabs anticipated.
Problems
Storm Slabs
Storm Slab avalanches are the release of a cohesive layer (a slab) of new snow that breaks within new snow or on the old snow surface. Storm-slabs typically last between a few hours and few days (following snowfall). Storm-slabs that form over a persistent weak layer (surface hoar, depth hoar, or near-surface facets) may be termed Persistent Slabs or may develop into Persistent Slabs.
Cornices
Cornice Fall is the release of an overhanging mass of snow that forms as the wind moves snow over a sharp terrain feature, such as a ridge, and deposits snow on the downwind (leeward) side. Cornices range in size from small wind drifts of soft snow to large overhangs of hard snow that are 30 feet (10 meters) or taller. They can break off the terrain suddenly and pull back onto the ridge top and catch people by surprise even on the flat ground above the slope. Even small cornices can have enough mass to be destructive and deadly. Cornice Fall can entrain loose surface snow or trigger slab avalanches.