Avalanche Forecast

Fair - Wind speed or direction are uncertain on Saturday

Friday night and Saturday: A bit of a precipitation break with moderate winds with strong gusts from the NW friday night. Another unsettled air mass will bring more precipitation on the region on Saturday but no significant amounts. Light W winds gusting moderate in the afternoon and surface freezing level and seasonal temperatures in the alpine (-7 C). Sunday: Similar pattern with some light precipitation, moderate W winds, cooler temperatures (down to -12 C). Monday: Arctic front tracking towards the region bringing more light precipitations and even cooler temperatures.

Small loose avalanche cycle up to 1.5 ran on the January 23rd interface mostly on NE aspects. There was also a few small skier triggered avalanches also on NE aspects.

Around 20 cm fell with the last 2 systems (more in the S and W and less in other parts of the region) with light to moderate S-SW winds creating soft slabs in the alpine and at treeline below ridgetops. It is expected that the bond between these slabs and the underlying surface will improve, however they will also gain propagation potential with the continuing settlement and forecasted moderate winds. In other words, they could be harder to trigger, but if triggered, they will generate bigger avalanches. The new snow is also sitting on a couple of weak layers; a suncrust on S facing slopes and on a surface hoar layer mostly found below treeline. The bond of the new snow with these type of layers usually takes longer to improve and is harder to predict. It is therefore important to keep monitoring their location and reactivity to ski and snowpack tests. The early January surface hoar layer down 40-60 cm also in the below treeline band is still a concern to professionals. It has been producing a variety of snowpack results but has not been reactive to skier traffic in a while.