Continued snow through the weekend will be building storm slabs on top of a touchy surface hoar layer. Be very cautious as slides could occur even on low angle terrain.
Weather Forecast
Continued snow expected through the weekend with up to 30 cm accumulated by Sunday night. Mod SW winds with warm valley bottom temps cooling with elevation.
Snowpack Summary
A well settled snowpack exists at treeline and below. In the alpine, SW winds have stripped most fetch areas and built pockets of hard slab on lee slopes. The distribution of the surface hoar that formed during last week's inversion is widespread but is most likely best preserved on sheltered north aspect slopes.
Avalanche Summary
No new activity reported or observed on Thursday. No avalanche patrol conducted.
Confidence
Forecast snowfall amounts are uncertain on Friday
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.