Avalanche Forecast

Moderate - Forecast snowfall amounts are uncertain

THURSDAY NIGHT: Light flurries starting overnight with accumulations of 2-5 cm by the morning, moderate west wind, alpine temperatures drop to -10 C.FRIDAY: Snowfall with 5-10 cm in the north and 10-20 cm in the south, strong southwest wind, alpine high temperatures around -6 C.SATURDAY: Cloudy with light snowfall and accumulations up to 5 cm, light southwest wind, alpine high temperatures around -8 C.SUNDAY: Mix of sun and cloud, light southeast wind, alpine high temperatures around -8 C.

One skier triggered one slab was reported in the Duffey area on Thursday (see MIN report here). It occurred on a northwest aspect at 1900 m. More small wind slabs (size 1) were reported on Wednesday.Over the long weekend, there were numerous reports of wind slab avalanches being triggered. Check out the many MIN reports here for some great observations. In general, small to large (size 1 to 2) wind slabs were triggered in steep alpine terrain. They were 10 to 30 cm deep and on southwest to northwest aspects. Some small slabs (size 1) were also triggered on low elevation cutbanks (photos here).

The upper snowpack is highly variable and may consist of 10-20 cm of low density snow, hard wind slabs, and/or sun crusts (on south-facing slopes). On Friday, expect 5-20 cm of new snow along with strong southwest wind on Friday to reshape the snow surface and form fresh wind slabs in exposed terrain. A weak layer above a crust can be found roughly 20 cm deep at lower elevations and has produced some small slabs with low destructive potential on isolated features. The remainder of the snowpack is generally well-settled.