Early season hazards will be tougher to manage with grey skies and flurries in the forecast. Don't let poor visibility lead you into problematic terrain.
The base of our thin snowpack is weak and faceted. Steep pockets of deeper, wind-loaded snow are the most likely to break away from this weak base under the weight of a person or machine.
No new avalanches have been reported in the past few days. This should stay the same until the region receives more snow.
Observations are limited this time of year. Please consider filling out a MIN report if you do head out in the backcountry! 🙏
Surface conditions are a mix of increasingly large surface hoar topping a few cm of faceting snow in shaded, sheltered areas, sun crust on steep south and west-facing slopes, and heavy wind effect on exposed terrain at treeline and above.
A crust with facets or depth hoar beneath it exists near the ground.
Expect early-season conditions with a shallower-than-average snowpack. At treeline, snowpack depths are between 30-80 cm. Below treeline, snowpack depths taper quickly.
Thursday Night
Cloudy with isolated flurries, minimal accumulations. South or southwest alpine wind 5 to 15 km/h.
Friday
Cloudy with isolated flurries continuing from overnight, less than 5 cm total accumulation. Southwest alpine wind 10-20 km/h. Treeline temperature -7°C.
Saturday
Cloudy with flurries continuing from the overnight period bringing 10-15 total cm of new snow. Southwest alpine wind 30-50 km/h. Treeline temperature -5°C.
Sunday
Cloudy with snowfall, 10-15 cm accumulation. South alpine wind 40-60 km/h. Treeline temperature -5°C.
More details can be found in the Mountain Weather Forecast.
