Rain at lower elevations continues to saturate the snowpack; while at higher elevations new snow is being redistributed by strong alpine winds.
A layer of facets over a crust is buried down 50 to 100 cm and may still be rider-triggerable on alpine slopes with inconsistent snowpack depth.
Storm and wind slab formation continue at higher elevations where precipitation has fallen as snow.
Rain at lower elevations continues to saturate the upper snowpack.
We anticipate a natural avalanche cycle has occurred and/or continues, particularly in areas where precipitation has changed from snow to rain throughout the storm.
Heavy rain or wet snow continues to saturate the upper snowpack at lower elevations. At higher elevations recent snow has buried a melt-freeze crust.
The remainder of the snowpack is strong with numerous hard melt-freeze crusts.
Treeline snow depth ranges from 100 to 180 cm. Snow depth diminishes rapidly at low elevations where rain has prevailed for much of the winter.
Wednesday Night
Cloudy with 10 to 30 mm of rain or snow at higher elevations, southwest alpine winds 40 to 60 km/h, treeline temperature +1 °C. Freezing levels 1400 m.
Thursday
Cloudy with 5 to 20 mm of rain or snow at higher elevations, southwest alpine winds 40 to 50 km/h, treeline temperature +2 °C. Freezing levels 1500 m.
Friday
Cloudy with 2 to 10 mm of rain or snow at higher elevations, south alpine winds 60 to 70 km/h, treeline temperature +2 °C. Freezing levels 2500 m.
Saturday
Cloudy with 5 to 20 mm of rain, south alpine winds 50 to 60 km/h, treeline temperature +5 °C. Freezing levels 2200 m.
More details can be found in the Mountain Weather Forecast.
