Incoming winds will raise the danger over the next couple days.
Elevated winds from the west and northwest over the next few days will blow the new light snow around. This combined with warmer temperatures has the potential to create new windslabs in areas exposed to the winds.
This problem represents both the Dec. 2nd crust/ facet layer (treeline and below) and the late December facet layer. We have not seen any activity on this layer in the last 8 days
Thurs AM will start cold (-20 to -25), but then temps will warm to more seasonal levels. We are expecting light precip on Thurs with trace to 5 cms depending on the model. Friday will see slightly more precip with an additional 5-10 cms. Saturday will see only a trace amount of snow. Alpine winds will be strong to extreme from the W/NW throughout
15-25 cm of snow on Sunday with moderate to strong W/NW winds have created soft windslabs in the alpine and isolated treeline areas. This sits on a variety of surfaces including sun crusts, faceted snow and isolated areas of surface hoar. The Dec 2 crust/facet layer is down 70-120 cm and has not been reactive in the last week.
No new avalanches observed on a field trip on Wednesday in the Emerald Lake area. Local ski hills reporting only small soft windslab development in alpine and isolated treeline areas.
