Hazard will rise to considerable in the alpine during peak daytime heating.
Use caution in wind loaded areas. Keep in mind that human triggering potential persists as natural avalanches taper off.
Strong southwest winds and 15-20 cm of storm snow have built wind slabs in alpine and treeline lees. Although natural avalanche activity has tappered off wind slabs remain possible to human trigger.
Be alert when there is direct sun on slopes. Even brief periods of sun could quickly initiate natural avalanche activity.
The full impact of the march sun is slowly weakening cornices. It is very difficult to predict exactly when a cornice will fail. To manage uncertainty give cornices a wide berth and minimize your exposure time on slopes below them.
On Tuesday, a skier accidental size 2.5 wind slab avalanche was reported. The group triggered the avalanche in a 2000 m start zone that had been reverse-loaded by northeast winds earlier in the week.
Explosive control in the region triggered a few wind slab avalanches to size 2.5. A natural, size 2.5, cornice triggered windslab avalanche was observed in the alpine.
If you head out in the backcountry, let us know what you are seeing by submitting a report to the Mountain Information Network.
+20 cm of storm snow and southwest winds have formed wind slabs in lees at alpine and treeline. This sits above hard, wind-affected snow in open areas and a sun crust on solar slopes. Below 1800 m the surface is covered by a refrozen rain crust.
A melt-freeze crust with facets above can be found 50 to 120 cm deep. It has not produced any recent avalanche activity in the region, however, professionals are still tracking it to watch for signs of it becoming an active problem.
The mid to lower snowpack is well-bonded. Currently, we are not seeing the same basal weak layers and reactivity that many of the neighboring regions are experiencing this season.
Wednesday Night
Scattered clouds clear throughout the night. Chance of isolated flurries, trace accumulation. Alpine temperatures are low of -7 °C. Ridge wind norhtwest 20 km/h. Freezing levels drop to valley bottom.
Thursday
Mainly sunny with a few clouds in the afternoon. Alpine temperatures reach a high of -3 °C. Ridge wind southwest 10 km/h. Freezing levels rise to 1700 meters.
Friday
Mainly sunny. Alpine temperatures reach a high of -1 °C. Ridge wind southwest 10 km/h. Freezing levels rise to 1800 meters.
Saturday
Mainly sunny. Alpine temperatures reach a high of 0 °C. Ridge wind southwest 15 km/h. Freezing levels rise to 2000 meters.
More details can be found in the Mountain Weather Forecast.
