The south end of the region has seen much more new snow than the north end. Be locally aware to the conditions where you are traveling.
Weather Forecast
Thursday: Expect clouds to lift and precipitation to tail off, replaced by mixed skies later in the day. Winds should be light from the north with alpine temperatures reaching -4.Friday: Mostly sunny, with continued light northerly winds and temperatures reaching -4.Saturday: The ridge remains in place, yielding light northerlies and mostly sunny skies. Alpine temperatures may reach -1 with the freezing level climbing to 1200m.
Avalanche Summary
We have reports of natural, explosive and rider triggered windslabs up to size 1.5 failing on northwest through east facing terrain These are failing at treeline and in the alpine. Remote and accidental triggering have been observed.
Snowpack Summary
A further 10-20 of new snow has fallen bringing storm totals to between 50-75cm (deepest amounts in the southern portion of the region). Consistent southerly winds continue, building windslabs in lee terrain. Newly buried surfaces include old windslabs, temperature and sun crusts. The new snow is bonding reasonably well at this interface with the most concern being the crusts on south and west facing terrain. The January 23rd interface (crusts, facets and surface hoar crystals) lingers in isolated locations. This layer seems to be rounding and bonding under current conditions. The mid pack is generally well settled with the average snowpack depth at treeline around 180 cm.
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.