Avalanche Forecast
Regions: Northwest Inland.
Confidence
Good
Weather Forecast
A ridge of high pressure is expected to keep the northwest ranges mainly sunny and dry with light winds throughout the forecast period. Freezing levels are expected to reach 1500m during the day, but drop back down to valley bottoms at night.
Avalanche Summary
Reports from Wednesday include some larger wet sluffs from steep rocky sun-exposed terrain. Cornices have also been failing over the past couple of days, some of which triggered wind slab avalanches up to Size 2 on the slope below.
Snowpack Summary
Moderate winds have blown light amounts of new snow into variable wind slabs in exposed lee and cross-loaded terrain, which are starting to bond. Surface snow on sun-exposed slopes is undergoing a daily melt-freeze cycle. In sheltered areas 15-30cm of new snow sits on the previous surface that includes crusts (found on all aspects below 1000m and on solar aspects higher up), and old wind slabs. Not only will daytime warming and sun-exposure cause surface snow to lose cohesion and cornices to weaken, they will also increase settlement rates and decrease slab stability.
Avalanche Problems
Loose Wet
Aspects: North, North East, East, South East.
Elevations: All elevations.
Likelihood: Likely
Expected Size: 1 - 3
Cornices
Aspects: North, North East, East, South East.
Elevations: Alpine.
Likelihood: Possible
Expected Size: 1 - 4
Wind Slabs
Aspects: North, North East, East, South East, South.
Elevations: Alpine, Treeline.
Likelihood: Likely
Expected Size: 1 - 2