40 cm or more of storm snow and wind have formed reactive slabs. When the sun comes out and temperatures rise, expect avalanche activity to be very likely.
Wind slabs are likely to be human-triggered near or just below ridge crests, with the deepest slabs found on east-facing terrain.
Buried weak layers from January and February could still be triggered, particularly at upper treeline and alpine elevations. Storm slab avalanches could step down to these layers, forming very large avalanches.
New snow and wind have formed reactive new slabs. Expect large human triggered avalanches to become very likely when the sun appears and as daytime temperatures rise.
Many small to large (size 1 to 3) storm, wind slab, and cornice avalanches were either triggered naturally, by humans, or by explosives on Wednesday. These occurred at treeline and alpine elevations primarily on north aspects. Most slabs were 50 to 80 cm deep.
With new snow and daytime warming, human-triggered avalanches will be very likely on Friday.
On Thursday, 20 to 30 cm of new snow fell, accompanied by moderate southwest winds, forming new storm and wind slabs. Since last Saturday, up to 90 cm of storm snow has accumulated, sitting on a hard melt-freeze crust and surface hoar crystals in wind-sheltered areas.
Weak layers of surface hoar and/or faceted grains, buried in mid-February and late January, are found 60 to 150 cm deep.
The lower half of the snowpack remains strong.
Thursday Night
Cloudy. 20 to 40 km/h southwest ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -10 °C.
Friday
Mix of sun and cloud. 10 to 20 km/h south ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -7 °C.
Saturday
Cloudy with 5 to 10 cm of snow. 20 to 30 km/h south ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -6 °C.
Sunday
Cloudy with 1 to 5 cm of snow. 20 to 30 km/h south ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -5 °C.
More details can be found in the Mountain Weather Forecast.
