Although the forecast calls for mostly cloudy conditions watch for brief periods of sun that could increase the likelihood of an avalanche, especially on steep south facing alpine slopes.
Confidence
Fair - Timing or intensity of solar radiation is uncertain
Weather Forecast
Warm, wet and, windy conditions look likely to persist through the next couple of days. Thursday will see mainly cloudy skies producing isolated showers with a freezing level of 2500m and light to moderate south winds. This pattern will persist on Friday when the freezing level is expected to rise to 3000m and the winds becoming more westerly. A cooling and clearing trend is forecast for Saturday with scattered cloud cover expected and the freezing level forecast to return to 2000m accompanied by light west winds.
Avalanche Summary
Slab avalanche activity appears to have tapered off for now although small lose wet avalanches have been reported in steep terrain at lower elevations.
Snowpack Summary
In the south of the region around 50 cm of rapidly settling snow rests on the supportive rain crust from early February. Further north the crust is buried closer to 1m down. The bond to this crust continues to strengthen with ongoing warm temperatures. Southwest winds are forming new windslabs at upper elevations. The snow is moist below 2000m and wet below treeline.
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.
Loose Wet
Loose Wet avalanches are the release of wet unconsolidated snow or slush. These avalanches typically occur within layers of wet snow near the surface of the snowpack, but they may quickly gouge into lower snowpack layers. Like Loose Dry Avalanches, they start at a point and entrain snow as they move downhill, forming a fan-shaped avalanche. Other names for loose-wet avalanches include point-release avalanches or sluffs. Loose Wet avalanches can trigger slab avalanches that break into deeper snow layers.