Quick report
- Aspect
- Northwest
- Red Flags
- Heavy Snowfall
- Elevation
- 2896 m
- Slope Angle
- 25°
- Red Flags Comment
- <p>With such dense snow, it's always hard to appreciate how much loading the snowpack is getting. </p>
Snowpack
- Instability Comment
- <p>This problem is doing two things </p> <ol> <li>It is healing as it is getting buried.</li> <li>It is getting harder to trigger avalanches on it because there is so much snow on top of the weak layer.</li> </ol> <p>In our snowpit, it's looking pretty good. BUT, this doesn't mean that I trust it in all slopes. I'd like to dig some more in shallow rocky areas (if they exists) or in other drainages that have received less snow. The places where the PWL is going to be weaker would be places that had less snow in November. Places like this location, likely had about 3 feet of snow on the ground. Places that only had a foot or so, have much weaker looking facets in the PWL.</p> <p> </p> <p>It's hard for the danger to drop while the snowpack is being loaded with such heavy snow and strong winds. </p> <p>The most likely avalanche problem will be the new snow. There's a lot going on with this storm (including rain at lower elevations) and I honestly have no idea how the new snow will react tomorrow. For now I'd assume that it can produce soft slab avalanches. Many ski areas were able to ski cut, and produce soft slab avalanches of the new snow today. I don't know how likely that will be tomorrow.</p>
Fast, surfy, graupel that was a little punchy due to some slightly lower density snow from yesterday afternoon underneath it.