Loose wet avalanches remain reactive with the warm temperatures. Cornices are soft and weak. Avoid travel under, on or anywhere near cornices.
Weather Forecast
The weather pattern begins to change Thursday with increased cloud cover and falling freezing levels overnight. FRIDAY: Cloudy with rain 5-15 mm up to 2400 m. Treeline temperatures near + 6 degrees. Ridgetop winds moderate with strong gusts from the South.SATURDAY: Cloudy with some sunny periods. Freezing levels 1500 m and treeeline temperatures near +3. Ridgetop winds light from the southwest. SUNDAY: A mix of sun and cloud with freezing levels 1800 m and alpine temperatures near +5. Ridgetop winds light from the southwest.
Avalanche Summary
No new avalanches were reported on Wednesday. Natural loose wet avalanches up to size 1 were reported on Tuesday in the North Shore Mountains. Natural activity may start to taper off with cooler temperatures this weekend. Until then you can expect loose wet slides to continue.
Snowpack Summary
Snow surfaces are variable and the heat has likely eliminated any trace of cold snow except on high elevation north features. Melt-freeze conditions (more melt then freeze at lower elevations) exist on all other aspects and elevations and signs of snowballing, surface sluffing and loose wet avalanches are current.Deeper in the snowpack a layer of weak and sugary faceted grains sits on a melt-freeze crust about 50 to 120 cm deep. This layer is most prominent in the North Shore Mountains on north aspects. With little overnight re-freeze the warm temperatures will penetrate deeper and continue to destabilize the snowpack and possibly initiating larger persistent slab avalanches.
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.
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.