Marginal snow depth is barely covering ground features. Early season conditions exist.
Weather Forecast
Thursday will be 1900m freezing level, light SW winds, none to possibly light flurries snow, and some sun. No significant snow is forecast for a few days. Temperatures are warming Thursday particularly on SW aspects if the sun comes out.
Snowpack Summary
up to 2100m a spotty Oct 17 crust exists 10cm up from ground. It maybe lower elevations on N aspects. Oct 31 crust is 10cm down from surface above 2000m. Above 2000m 30cm plus is expected yet distribution varies with aspect, elevation, and wind exposure. Treeline, alpine gully features, and some lee alpine slopes will be wind loaded.
Avalanche Summary
Steep SW slopes along Medicine lake up to 2500m releasing with solar on Wednesday starting as point release to ground. Some point releases initiated 10-15cm wide 30cm deep thin slab lower down. This was enough snow to entrain in features making them up to size 2. Small avalanches over rocky terrain, cliffs, or in terrain traps would be serious.
Confidence
Timing or intensity of solar radiation is uncertain on Thursday
Problems
Wind Slabs
Wind Slab avalanches are the release of a cohesive layer of snow (a slab) formed by the wind. Wind typically transports snow from the upwind sides of terrain features and deposits snow on the downwind side. Wind slabs are often smooth and rounded and sometimes sound hollow, and can range from soft to hard. Wind 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 Dry
Loose Dry avalanches are the release of dry unconsolidated snow and typically occur within layers of soft snow near the surface of the snowpack. These avalanches start at a point and entrain snow as they move downhill, forming a fan-shaped avalanche. Other names for loose-dry avalanches include point-release avalanches or sluffs.