Northwest Coastal

It will continue to look and feel a lot like winter Saturday. Approach the mountains as if the calendar says January, not April.

A ridge building to the south is expected to steer the jet stream into the northwest coast through the weekend. Freezing levels should remain relatively low through Sunday and a fair amount of precipitation is expected through the weekend. SATURDAY: Overcast skies, freezing level at 1500 m, 5 to 15 cm of snow, strong south wind. SUNDAY: Overcast skies, freezing level beginning around 1500 m, climbing to 2000 m throughout the day, 5 to 10 cm of snow, strong south wind. MONDAY: Overcast skies, freezing level holding around 2500 m, scattered rain/snow showers/flurries, strong to extreme south wind.

No new observations to report from Thursday. On Wednesday loose wet avalanches were reportedly running naturally to size 1 on north through west facing terrain between 1300 and 1600 m. On Tuesday loose wet/"moist" avalanches to size 2 were observed from steep rocky terrain.

5 to 25 cm of new storm snow has fallen at higher elevations in the last 72 hours. The wind has primarily been out of the south during the storm, which has likely formed fresh wind slabs and created new cornice growth. The storm snow has buried a widespread melt-freeze crust which was thought to exist almost everywhere, the exception may be high elevation north facing terrain. A widespread crust/facet layer from early February and depth hoar at the bottom of the snowpack (primarily in northern & inland areas) has gone dormant for the time being. These layers have the potential to wake up during periods of prolonged warming.