Avalanche Forecast

Moderate - Due to the number and quality of field observations

WEDNESDAY: Mostly sunny, light wind, freezing level up to 600 m, alpine high temperatures near -8 C.THURSDAY: Snow starting in the morning with 4-8 cm accumulations by the afternoon, strong south wind, freezing level near valley bottom, alpine high temperatures near -10 C.FRIDAY: Continued light flurries with another 5 cm of snow, moderate south wind, freezing level up to 600 m, alpine high temperatures near -8 C.

Preliminary reports from Tuesday suggest some avalanche activity likely occurred at higher elevations during the storm.No new avalanches were reported on Monday and activity on Sunday was limited to a few small loose avalanches on steep sun-exposed slopes.Last week, large persistent slab avalanches were reported on east to northeast aspects at all elevations. These were failing on the early-March and mid-March layers.

10-30 cm of new snow sits above a variety of crusts on all but high north aspects.In the south of the region, 70 to 90 cm of snow overlies two layers of surface hoar. The layers are most prominent on north to east aspects and were buried early-March and mid-March. In the north of the region, these layers are around 40 cm deep.Shallower parts of the region, such as the far north, have weak sugary facets near the bottom of the snowpack.