Avalanche Forecast

Good

Saturday night: 5 - 10 cm Sunday: Moderate SW ridge top winds easing throughout the day. Isolated afternoon flurries. 1500m temp: -5 Freezing level: SurfaceMonday: Light S ridge top winds. 1500m temp -14 at day break, warming to -5 in the afternoon. No snow. Freezing Level: SurfaceTuesday: Light S ridge top winds. Treeline temp -6. No snow. Freezing Level: Surface

We're starting to see the effect of the big winds midweek.  More reports of large natural avalanches came in today.  A few different operations reported naturally triggered slab avalanches to size 3, pulling out of N through E facing terrain in the alpine. Out of the wind, there's still some sluffing in the new snow too.

An average of 150 cm of storm snow fell in the last 10 days across the region.  Winds picked up Wednesday/Thursday of this week and wreaked havoc on wind exposed terrain both in the alpine and at the upper treeline elevations.  Wind slabs and touchy cornices are now a serious concern on north through east facing slopes.  Sluffing of the new snow is still a concern in steep wind sheltered terrain.  There are some reports of a suncrust down around 100 cm in steep south facing features. The mid-pack is reported to be settling well.  I haven't heard of any test results on the late November surface hoar in the last few days.  The early November crust, near the base of the snowpack has also been inactive as of late. It's important to note that professionals are still cautious about these lingering persistent slab problems, but the likelihood of triggering is low. Be wary of steep complex terrain with a shallow snowpack, where triggering a persistent weakness is more likely.