Weather
Cloud cover increased midday. Cool temps. Previous moderate drifting, most recently from northerly winds. Settled storm totals increased from 30 cm below treeline to 50 cm above treeline. cloud cover: scattered; wind loading: previous; recent snowfall (cm): 50; snow avail for transport: large amounts
Snowpack
I was trying to find a pattern of where storm slabs formed over facets, but it wasn't abundantly clear. In hand pits, I found concerning structures and produced occasional collapses on SW, E, and NE aspects NTL, and not N, SE, or S. Areas that saw wind drifting before the main snowfall event were most concerning because they held a thin layer of stiff, drifted snow above the facets, creating a more abrupt hardness change. I found the buried facets below treeline, but the slabs weren't well-developed and didn't provide any feedback. Snow surfaces became moist on sunnier aspects at mid to low elevations from morning solar. . Triggered several shooting cracks on steep, windloaded test slopes NTL. On low-angle terrain, we felt occasional muffled collapses on facets below the storm snow on E, NE, and SW aspects. Collapses were more common when a thin, harder layer of wind drifted snow capped the facets (from pre-storm wind events).
Avalanche
Over the past 24 hours, many soft slab avalanches ran naturally in the new snow, including a couple today due to solar warming. These were mostly near/above treeline and D1 to D1.5, with a few D2s. Today, I triggered a couple of storm slabs about a foot thick (up to D1.5) in relatively sheltered terrain and a small wind slab on a drifted test slope. These were all near treeline.