Avalanche Forecast

Good - The weather pattern is stable

A dry arctic ridge will dominate the region for the forecast period. Skies will be mainly clear for the period with ridge top temperatures hovering at about -20, and moderate northeasterly winds.

We continue to get reports of skier-triggered, and remotely triggered slab avalanches. Avalanche activity has mostly been in the size 2 range, failing on the mid-December layers. This pattern is expected to persist for the foreseeable future.

Up to 25cm of low density snow fell over the last few days. This new snow, which overlies recently formed surface hoar, may have been shifted into fresh wind slabs in high elevation terrain.  Up to 70 cm of snow from last week has consolidated into a slab above a touchy weak layer of surface hoar sitting on a thick rain crust. This widespread persistent layer continues to produce whumpfing and sudden snowpack tests, and will likely remain sensitive to human triggering for the foreseeable future. Although high elevation slopes may not have the rain crust, they are still reported to have touchy buried surface hoar. At the base of the snowpack, a crust/facet combo appears to have gone dormant for the time being.