February 20, 2004 South Coast Region Weather: Benign weather is forecast for the weekend. No precipitation is expected until late on Monday. Temperatures will be mild through the weekend, and temperatures in the alpine will be about -3, but should move above freezing in the afternoon. Negative temperatures are expected overnight. Winds will be uncharacteristically light all weekend. Snowpack: Snowfall and winds prior to Wednesday created a hodgepodge of layering in alpine areas. Many locations report hard and soft windslabs over some sort of crusted surface. Observations Friday point to generally strengthening surface layers and tightening in of slabs. Cool temperatures overnight should allow further improvement. At treeline and below, less wind activity was seen. In these spots 20-30 cm of storm snow sits on buried surface hoar. Reports indicate that this layer is not currently a concern for human triggering Deeper layers in the snowpack are reported to be mostly strong. Avalanche Activity: Avalanche activity was minimal on Thursday and Friday. One human triggered avalanche was observed on a 30 cm windslab in alpine terrain. Forecast of Avalanche Danger Up To Monday Evening (February 23, 2004) Alpine ^Ö MODERATE caution on south facing terrain in the afternoon Treeline ^Ö MODERATE Below Treeline ^Ö LOW Travel Advisory: Solar radiation will be strong on south facing terrain. This will weaken these slopes and make triggering of avalanches possible. Cornices falling from ridges onto slopes below have the potential to trigger larger avalanches. Issued by: jk