Stormy conditions continue, which are elevating avalanche danger. Conservative terrain travel is recommended.
Stormy conditions continue to form storm and wind slabs. These slabs will become easier to trigger as they build over the day on Friday. They will be most problematic at high enough elevations where the ground roughness has been buried.
Natural and rider-triggered avalanches are likely as snow and strong wind form new slabs over the day on Friday. These will build on top of the slabs formed on Wednesday, which may still be triggerable in wind-exposed locations. Cautious terrain travel and avoidance of high-consequence avalanche terrain are smart choices during stormy weather.
Please consider sharing any observations you have on the Mountain Information Network.
The snowpack continues to build with an onslaught of storms. Each storm is bringing intense snow accumulation and strong wind, forming touchy storm and wind slabs. The freezing level varies between 1000 m and 1400 m on Friday, which means snow may transition to rain and wet the snowpack at lower elevations.
Various melt-freeze crusts are buried in the middle and lower snowpack, which aren't concerning avalanche layers.
The snowpack is around 150 cm deep at 1500 m, 100 cm deep at 1200 m, and it rapidly decreases with lower elevations.
Thursday Night
Cloudy with 5 to 10 cm of snow then clearing. 20 to 30 km/h southeast ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -3 °C. Freezing level 1000 m.
Friday
Cloudy with 10 to 20 cm of snow and local amounts up to 30 cm possible. 60 km/h southeast ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -1 °C. Freezing level 1400 m.
Saturday
Cloudy with 50 to 100 cm of snow. 50 km/h south ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -3 °C. Freezing level 1100 m.
Sunday
Cloudy with 20 to 40 cm of snow. 30 km/h southeast ridgetop wind. Treeline temperature -2 °C. Freezing level 1200 m.
More details can be found in the Mountain Weather Forecast.
