The cloudy days make the short days seem even shorter. Give yourself plenty of time to get to the trail head before dark.
Weather Forecast
In a nutshell, cloudy, a few flakes, no winds, remaining cool. Light flurries with no significant accumulation are expected today. Winds will remain light in the alpine, with freezing levels staying near valley bottom. The same is expected for Thursday.
Snowpack Summary
Scattered flurries from the past 36 hours have covered a variety of old surfaces. This included surface hoar from 1700m to ridgetop, thin variable slab in wind-exposed alpine areas, and thin sun crusts on steep solar aspects. Lower elevation and wind-protected areas have 10-15cm of low density faceted snow on a well settled base.
Avalanche Summary
There were isolated loose avalanches to size 2 from both N and S aspects observed in the highway corridor yesterday. All started from steep, rocky alpine terrain and none ventured further than the beginning of their respective avalanche fans.
Problems
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.