More snow and wind arriving Wednesday night means avalanche danger will remain High. Persistent slab avalanches are primed for rider triggering.
A weak layer of faceted grains above crust buried 60 to 120 cm deep is a recipe for large, high-consequence avalanches.
Storm slabs remain reactive to human traffic. The slabs are particularly touchy where they sit on weak layers of facets or surface hoar. Expect deeper and touchier slabs in lee terrain features near ridges.
Numerous natural and rider triggered storm slab and persistent slab avalanches size 1 to 3.5 with wide propagations have been reported the past few days at al elevations. Persistent slabs have been reported on all aspects and 60 to 100 cm deep. Some of the rider triggered avalanches resulted in partial or full burials and many were remotely triggered (from a distance).
Expect storm and persistent slab avalanche activity to continue.
70 to 110 cm of recent snow sits on a variety of layers that it may not bond well to, including surface hoar in wind-sheltered terrain, weak facets, or a hard melt-freeze crust on sun-exposed south and west-facing slopes. The wind has likely formed thicker deposits in lee terrain features near ridges.
A thick and hard widespread crust that formed in early February is buried 60 to 120 cm deep and is found up to around 2400 m. This crust may have a layer of facets above it, which makes it a troublesome avalanche layer.
The remainder of the snowpack is settled.
Wednesday Night
Cloudy with 10 to 20 cm of snow. 30 to 60 km/h southwest ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -1 °C. Freezing level 1500 - 1800 m.
Thursday
Cloudy with 10 to 25 cm of snow. 30 to 60 km/h southwest ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -3 °C. Freezing level 1400 m.
Friday
Mostly cloudy with 3 to 5 cm of snow. 15 to 40 km/h southwest ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -5 °C. Freezing level 1000 m.
Saturday
Mostly cloudy with sunny breaks and 1 to 3 cm of snow. 15 to 30 km/h southwest ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -4 °C. Freezing level 600 m.
More details can be found in the Mountain Weather Forecast.
