Wind Slabs
- Hochgebirge
- Waldgrenze
- Unterhalb der Waldgrenze
- Wahrscheinlichkeit
- Likely
- Größe
- 1–2
On Sunday, COAC observers found wind slabs to be small, but easily triggered on east facing slopes. One COAC observer was reporting wind slabs to range from shallow to over a foot thick. Those wind slabs were formed from just 3" of new snow. Cold light snow will easily be moved by the wind. It is important to remember that wind deposits can be many times deeper than the accumulated storm snow. With more snow coming in overnight and into Monday, I expect wind slabs to grow and cover more ground on lee aspects.
In much of the terrain, wind slab avalanches will be small although there are specific pockets of terrain out there where triggering a wind slab will result in a large avalanche that could bury a person. Montior the depth of wind drifted snow as you move through lee terrain below ridge tops and around features that catch blowing snow. As you observe increased depth of wind loaded snow, expect resulting avalanches to become larger.
Ease into steeper terrain. Look for new cornices or a rough, wavy, or chalky texture on the snow surface to indicate where wind slabs have formed. If you encounter cracking in wind drifted snow, observe recent avalanches, or find wind drifted snow 10-12" or deeper, that is a good indication to stay off of wind loaded slopes steeper than 30 degrees.
