Avalanche Forecast

Many small to large (size 1 to 3) storm and wind slab avalanches were triggered naturally, by humans, and by explosives on Tuesday. They mostly occurred at treeline and alpine elevations and on all aspects. Most slabs were 40 to 80 cm deep.

With new snow and wind, both natural and human-triggered avalanches will be very likely on Thursday.

Around 20 to 40 cm of snow is forecast by Thursday afternoon with southwest wind. New storm and wind slabs will likely rapidly form. This will add to the 50 cm of storm snow that accumulated since Saturday. All this snow sits on a hard melt-freeze crust and surface hoar crystals in wind-sheltered terrain.

Weak layers of surface hoar and/or faceted grains buried mid-February and late-January are around 60 to 150 cm deep.

The lower half of the snowpack is strong.

Wednesday Night

Cloudy with 5 to 10 cm of snow. 20 to 30 km/h south ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -4 °C. Freezing level 1300 m.

Thursday

Cloudy with 10 to 20 cm of snow and local amounts of up to 30 cm possible. 20 to 40 km/h southwest ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -5 °C. Freezing level 1100 m.

Friday

Mostly cloudy with 2 to 5 cm of snow. 10 to 20 km/h south ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -7 °C.

Saturday

Cloudy with 5 to 10 cm of snow. 20 to 30 km/h south ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -5 °C.

More details can be found in the Mountain Weather Forecast.

• Travel in alpine terrain is not recommended.
• Watch for fresh storm slabs building throughout the day.
• Continue to make conservative terrain choices while the storm snow settles and stabilizes.
• Be aware of the potential for large avalanches due to buried weak layers.
• Be especially cautious as you transition into wind-affected terrain.
• Storm slabs in motion may step down to deeply buried weak layers and result in very large avalanches.
• Remote triggering is a concern; avoid terrain where triggering overhead slopes is possible.