Avalanche Forecast

-

Tuesday: Mix of sun and cloud / Light northwest winds / Freezing level at valley bottom. Wednesday: Light Flurries / Moderate to strong southwest winds / Freezing level at valley bottom. Thursday: Very light flurries / Light northwest winds / Freezing level at valley bottom

A size 1 wind slab was reported from the Harvey Pass area on Sunday via the Mountain Information Network. It was skier-triggered and occurred on a northeast aspect at treeline. I'm sure there was more activity like this, although observations have been extremely limited. With more benign weather on the horizon, I would expect wind slab activity to decrease gradually.

Early season snowpack observations are still very limited in the region but the threshold for avalanches has been exceeded at treeline and in the alpine. Reports suggest that the snow depth at treeline is typically 110-150cm but a report from the east side of region shows only 80cm at treeline. The snowpack tapers off drastically below treeline and below around 1700m there is not yet enough snow for avalanches. On Friday and Saturday, generally light amounts storm snow and strong winds were reported to have formed wind slabs in leeward terrain at treeline and in the alpine. Limited reports suggest the crust from the middle of November is down 50-80cm and the crust from early November is down 80-110cm.