Continue to avoid avalanche terrain.
Natural avalanches may still occur, especially in coastal regions.
Larger more sensitive slabs exist in wind-loaded areas. Storm snow that is resting on surface hoar and a crust, will be increasingly reactive to light triggers such as riders or skiers.
Use caution on steep features where snow has been rain soaked. As day time temperature rise and the sun comes out, expect avalanche activity to become increasingly likely.
A widespread natural avalanche cycle continued on Wednesday, throughout all elevations and aspects as snowfall, rainfall and warming persists. Activity includes failures in recent storm snow, loose wet releases, as well as deeper weak layers such as the early January surface hoar and the late December crust.
Recent storm totals vary from 130-250 cm throughout the region, heavily redistributed by strong southerly winds at upper elevations and settling rapidly from warm temperatures.
At treeline, surface snow has likely been affected by rain and warm temperatures. As freezing levels drop, new snow may fall over moist/wet surfaces. Below treeline, the snowpack is mostly saturated to ground.
A layer of large surface hoar is buried 90 to 150 cm in sheltered treeline features. The mid and lower snowpack is well settled with no current layers of concern. Treeline snow depths throughout the region range from 250 cm to 450 cm.
Wednesday Night
Partly cloudy. 1 cm of snow. 40 km/h west ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -4 °C. Freezing level 700 m.
Thursday
Mostly sunny. 20 km/h northwest ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -2 °C. Freezing level 1000 m.
Friday
Sunny. 20 km/h northwest ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature 3 °C. Freezing level 2600 m.
Saturday
Sunny. 20 km/h west ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature 7 °C. Freezing level 3300 m.
More details can be found in the Mountain Weather Forecast.
