We are continuing to monitor the snow surface. With cold clear nights, it has become somewhat weak on the more northerly aspects. This process is called "Near Surface Faceting". In simple terms, this process changes the surface snow into "sugary" type of grains. The concern is that once the current surface is buried, it could act as a weak layer.

That being said, my instinct tells me that the snow surface is not going to become weak enough to cause problems after it's buried. The snow crystals are still quite small grained facets right now. They will sluff on the steeper slopes but they are not entraining much snow after a sluff is initiated. Small grained facets and lack of significant sluffing does indicate that the snow surface has not become a real concern yet. I'll take another look on Friday at the snow surface before the weekend storm.

We will publish full detailed advisories Saturday and Sunday mornings by 7am. We will also be publishing basic avalanche danger ratings & info during the week.

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