Assess for wind slabs at higher elevations. Small avalanches could step down to a deeper layer and form large avalanches.
Assess for wind slabs in steep lee terrain features. Small wind slabs could step down to a weak layer over a hard crust buried around 50 to 100 cm deep, forming large avalanches.
Many slab avalanches were observed in the north of the region on Thursday. The avalanches were triggered naturally and by riders in alpine terrain on all aspects. The avalanches were 40 to 80 cm deep and occurred within the recent storm snow as well as on the weak layer described in the Snowpack Summary.
Looking forward, riders could trigger similar avalanches this weekend. Small avalanches could step down to the deeper layer, forming large avalanches.
Recent snow and southwest wind formed wind slabs in lee terrain features at higher elevations, which may take a couple days to bond to the snowpack.
Around 50 to 100 cm of snow overlies a hard melt-freeze crust from early April. This snow is slow to bond to the crust where pockets of weak surface hoar or faceted grains rest on the crust, which is most likely on northerly aspects at treeline and alpine elevations.
There are no deeper concerns at this time.
Friday Night
Cloudy with 1 cm of snow. 20 to 30 km/h southwest ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -5 °C.
Saturday
Cloudy with 1 to 3 cm of snow. 20 km/h southwest ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -2 °C. Freezing level 1000 m.
Sunday
Cloudy with 5 cm of snow. 20 km/h southwest ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -3 °C. Freezing level 1000 m.
Monday
Cloudy with 5 to 10 cm of snow. 20 km/h west ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -4 °C. Freezing level 900 m.
More details can be found in the Mountain Weather Forecast.
