Wind Slabs
- Hochgebirge
- Waldgrenze
- Unterhalb der Waldgrenze
- Wahrscheinlichkeit
- Possible
- Größe
- 1–2
On Tuesday night and Wednesday morning, temperatures will drop into the 20s Fahrenheit, and the rain will change to snow at upper elevations. On the highest peaks, there will be greater snow accumulation totals, combined with sustained Moderate winds from the west. This terrain is where you would find wind slab avalanches. The possible size will depend on how much snow falls and gets deposited by the wind. Use the recent rain/melt-freeze crust from the past several days as a baseline to see how much new snow is sitting on top. If it's more than a few inches, it would be best to give the new snow a couple days to settle before traveling on anything steep.
While there is a chance of new snow at lower elevations (below 8,000'), it is unlikely that enough will accumulate (or get deposited by the wind) to create avalanches large enough to carry a rider. If we're surprised and we get more snow than expected, monitor any newly formed wind drifts for instabilities.