Lizard-Flathead

The recent storm snow will need some time to settle. Then the question will be how easy will it be to trigger the weak layer buried 30-50 cm below the surface.

High -

Thursday: mostly dry during the day, light snow starting late afternoon. Moderate westerly winds. Treeline temperatures around -18C in the morning, warming to about -10C.Friday: Expect 2-5 cm on the ground in the morning from overnight flurries that may continue until noon. Winds becoming light northeasterly. Treeline temperatures around -14C.Saturday: Dry and sunny and cold. Temperatures around -20C or lower. Winds light northwesterly.

A natural avalanche cycle up to size 2.5 was observed on Wednesday with avalanche depths typically 50 cm deep. Continued human-triggered avalanches are likely over the next few days.

Around 50cm new snow now rests on a variety of old surfaces. These old surfaces include crusts on south through west facing slopes, wind-scoured slopes and, in sheltered terrain at and below treeline, large feathery surface hoar crystals. Lower in the snowpack, you should be able to find a hard crust that was buried near the end of November. This crust is approximately 30cm thick and extends from 1600m to mountain top on all aspects. Average snowpack depths at treeline in the region range from 100 to 140cm.