This morning: Skies are clear and temperatures are in the single digits and low teens F. Winds are easterly and light, less than 10 mph, gusting into the teens at the upper-most elevations.
Today: Sunshine. Temperatures will reach the 20's F. and the east/southeast winds will remain light.
Ahead: Keep the sunscreen handy for this weekend with sunshine and temperatures in the 20's F. The easterly winds will remain light, but begin to veer southwest later Sunday ahead of what currently appears to be an active week of snowfall.
Many southerly-facing slopes will have a crust from Thursday's sunshine.
Thursday's clear weather provided prime-time viewing of the widespread natural avalanche cycle that occurred Wednesday and overnight into Thursday morning. You are encouraged to read through all of the
recent avalanches, but the two reports that caught my mind are:
Mount Superior: Skier-triggered slide on a southeast aspect below the summit of Mount Superior on Thursday morning. The slide was from a cornice fall that was triggered by a skier along the ridge. 2' deep, 400' wide, running over 2,000' vertical.
No Name Baldy in Red Pine: 3-8' deep and roughly 2,500' wide. Likely triggered by a natural cornice fall. Zinnia Wilson briefly discusses this avalanche below:
On Wednesday in the town of Alta, a child playing with a group of friends in the snow was buried underneath an avalanche that came from a steep roof above. Fortunately, through an efficiently-organized recovery effort,
the child was dug out and survived. These are appropriately called "
roof-a-lanches" and will remain a hazard in our mountain communities this Spring. Do not let children play in the snow underneath steep roofs filled with snow. Please share this message.
