Use caution on north and east slopes where strong winds are building fresh wind slabs that are possible to human trigger.
With plenty of snow available for transport, strong southwest winds will build fresh wind slabs on leeward slopes Friday. Watch for slab conditions to change as you move into wind exposed terrain.
On Thursday, a few skier accidental, size 1, wind slab avalanches were reported on a northwest aspect at 2100 m. In steep north facing alpine terrain power sluffing from skier traffic was reported to easily gain mass and become loose dry avalanches up to size 1.5.
Friday's flurries will overlie 15-30 cm of soft snow over a widespread crust, except on north-facing slopes at treeline and above, where it sits on old, faceted surfaces, and surface hoar in some areas.
The mid-pack is generally well-settled.
In some areas, the lower snowpack includes a layer of weak facets near the ground. No recent avalanches have been reported on this layer. However, we continue to track the layer and watch for any signs of it becoming active again.
Thursday Night
Cloudy. Ridgetop wind 20-30 km/h gusting to 50 km/h from the southwest. Freezing level rising to 1900 m. Treeline high around 0°C.
Friday
Cloudy with flurries accumulating to 4-7 cm of new snow. Ridgetop wind 30-40 km/h from the southwest. Freezing levels drop to 1500 m in the afternoon.
Flurries continue through the night, 7-8 cm of accumulation.
Saturday
Mix of sun and cloud with isolated flurries, trace accumulation. Ridgetop wind 40 km/h gusting to 50 km/h from the southwest. Freezing levels 1700 m.
Sunday
Mix of sun and cloud with isolated flurries, trace accumulation. Ridgetop wind 50 km/h gusting to 70 km/h from the southwest. Freezing levels 2200 m.
More details can be found in the Mountain Weather Forecast.
