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Weather Forecast
A weak low pressure system is expected to move across the interior out of the northwest overnight, that should result in a couple of cm of snow combined with moderate northerly winds. The high pressure ridge should re-build on the coast on Friday bringing mostly clear skies and light winds for Friday afternoon and Saturday. Another weak system is expected on Sunday. Cloud should develop during the day and snow by late evening.
Avalanche Summary
No new avalanches reported.
Snowpack Summary
Light amounts of wind-pressed snow (5-20 cm) cover the previous variable snow surface of surface hoar, crusts, or wind affected snow depending on aspect and elevation. The "Valentine's Day" crust is just below the surface and is now strong and thick in most places. Isolated thin wind slabs may still be reactive in high elevation lee terrain, and cornices remain large and weak. The late-Jan crust/surface hoar layer (up to 100 cm deep) and the mid-January surface hoar (80-120 cm deep) are generally dormant, and chances of triggering these weaknesses have decreased dramatically. However, triggering may be possible with a large input such as cornice fall, or an avalanche stepping down, especially on sun drenched slopes.
Problems
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.