Lizard-Flathead

Pay close attention to your local winds and be on the look out for fresh wind slab formation.

Over the last few days, numerous wind and storm slab avalanches up to size 2 have been reported, including both natural and explosive-triggered. These avalanches were observed in alpine and treeline terrain on various aspects, with depths ranging from 10 to 40 cm.

An encouraging observation is that none of these avalanches triggered a step-down avalanche on layers deeper in the snowpack.

Recent snow continues to be redistributed by wind at higher elevations, promoting wind slab development in lee and cross-loaded terrain.

Settled powder snow remains in wind-sheltered terrain, while a thin melt-freeze crust exists below approximately 1600 m.

The mid and lower snowpack is generally well-settled and stable.

Snow depths at treeline range from 120 to 180 cm.

Tuesday Night

Partly cloudy with 0 to 4 cm of snow. 40 to 50 km/h west ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -4 °C.

Wednesday

Mostly cloudy. 30 to 40 km/h west ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -7 °C.

Thursday

Cloudy with 2 to 5 cm of snow. 30 to 40 km/h southwest ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -5 °C.

Friday

Cloudy with 2 to 5 cm of snow. 20 to 30 km/h southwest ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -5 °C.

More details can be found in the Mountain Weather Forecast.

• Pay attention to the wind; once it starts to blow, sensitive wind slabs are likely to form.
• Avoid freshly wind-loaded terrain features.
• Look for signs of instability: whumphing, hollow sounds, shooting cracks, and recent avalanches.