Stronger solar inputs will increase avalanche hazard by the afternoon. Use safe spring travel techniques like traveling early in the day on sun effected terrain before the surface crust breaks down.
Weather Forecast
A mix of sun and cloud are forecast today with freezing levels rising to 1600 m. Light to moderate ridge top winds from the north should keep upper elevations cooler. No precipitation is forecast until Tuesday, as Sunday and Monday remain sunny with a weak temperature inversion in place.
Snowpack Summary
Spring time conditions exists with a surface crust on all but due north aspects above 2000m. Lower temps last night resulted in a good freeze, with valley bottom crusts will break down quickly today. On solar aspects crusts in the upper 50cm are failing in the moderate range in stability tests. The mid to lower snowpack is very well settled.
Avalanche Summary
Yesterday at midday a small avalanche cycle occurred during a period of intense precipitation. We observed loose wet avalanches up to size 2.0 on solar aspects and two persistent slab releases up to size 3.0. On Thursday night, we observed an impressive glide crack release on a south aspect east of Rogers Pass that produced a size 3.0 avalanche.
Confidence
Timing or intensity of solar radiation is uncertain
Problems
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.
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.
Persistent Slabs
Persistent Slab avalanches are the release of a cohesive layer of snow (a slab) in the middle to upper snowpack, when the bond to an underlying persistent weak layer breaks. Persistent layers include: surface hoar, depth hoar, near-surface facets, or faceted snow. Persistent weak layers can continue to produce avalanches for days, weeks or even months, making them especially dangerous and tricky. As additional snow and wind events build a thicker slab on top of the persistent weak layer, this avalanche problem may develop into a Deep Persistent Slab.