Persistent Slabs
- Hochgebirge
- Waldgrenze
- Unterhalb der Waldgrenze
- Wahrscheinlichkeit
- Likely
- Größe
- 3
Most avalanche activity failing on the persistent weak layer (PWL) of faceted snow has been on northerly-facing terrain, however the PWL does exist on other aspects at the mid and upper elevations, including some southerly aspects. The Rodeo Ridge avalanche occurred at lower elevations where rain had saturated the PWL, but colder temperatures are slowly freezing and stabilizing this wet weak layer. Snowfall this past week didn't seem to be enough of a load to produce widespread avalanching on this weak layer at mid and upper elevations, but heavy snowfall containing 5" of water that may potentially fall through this weekend will find any weakness in the snowpack, with large and dangerous avalanches very likely.
Trend: Increasing