Avalanche Forecast

Moderate - Due to the number of field observations

Mostly cloudy skies, cooling temperatures and dry conditions moving into the weekend. SATURDAY: Mostly cloudy with a trace of new snow/ alpine temperatures near -3/ generally light winds from the northeast/ freezing level 1300 mSUNDAY: Cloudy with a trace of new snow/ alpine temperatures near -6/ ridgetop winds light from the northeast/ freezing levels 1000 mMONDAY: Cloudy with sunny periods/ alpine temperatures -11/ ridgetop winds light from the northeast/ freezing levels valley bottom

No new reports on Friday. Several storm slabs were initiated by explosives up to size 1.5 on Thursday. Even though the avalanche hazard has decreased I suspect human triggered avalanches will be possible. If you're in the backcountry and have observations to share, please post to the Mountain Information Network.

The region received another 11 cm of snow overnight adding to the 35 cm of recent storm snow fell earlier this week. Recent south and southwest winds have formed pockets of wind slab on leeward terrain, however the winds have switched from a more northerly direction which are potentially redistributing the new snow. Below the surface exists a series of crusts and a spotty, feathery surface hoar layer. We have a lot of uncertainty around this weak layer and its hard to know where it actually exists and how reactive it is. If you were to find it, I suspect it could exist on sheltered slopes in the alpine and at treeline. Deeper in the snowpack a melt-freeze crust exists at treeline and into the alpine on all aspects. Little is known about this crust and how the snowpack above is bonding. I would investigate this bond before jumping onto large, planar terrain features. At the bottom of the snowpack you'll likely find melt-freeze crusts and sugary weak facet crystals. The snowpack is deepest in the alpine. At treeline the average snowpack depths are 80 cm. These depths taper rapidly at lower elevations.Check out the new forecaster blog post "The Buzz". Discussing uncertainty.