Wind Slabs
- Alta montaña
- Límite del bosque
- Bajo el límite del bosque
- Probabilidad
- Possible - Likely
- Tamaño
- 1–2
New snow combined with primarily southwest wind on Tuesday night has created reactive wind slabs.
Heightened avalanche conditions exist on wind loaded slopes. In the north of the region, the likelihood of triggering deeply buried weak weak layers is reducing, however the consequences of doing so are still high.
New snow combined with primarily southwest wind on Tuesday night has created reactive wind slabs.
A couple of problematic layers may be found around 80 to 180 cm deep primarily in the north of the region (e.g. Duffey, Hurley), including weak layers of surface hoar and faceted grains above a hard melt-freeze crust. Although the likelihood of triggering is reducing, the consequences of doing so would be high.
Thursday Night: Mainly cloudy with clear periods, moderate southeast wind, alpine high -7, freezing level at valley bottom.
Friday: Scattered flurries, 1 to 5 cm, moderate to strong southwest wind, alpine high -5, freezing level 700 m.
Saturday: Mainly cloudy with sunny breaks, light to moderate south wind, alpine high -4, freezing level 800 m.
Sunday: Mainly cloudy with flurries, moderate south wind, alpine high -3, freezing level 1000 m.
Reports from Wednesday include a human triggered size 2 storm slab avalanche at 2000 m on a north aspect in the Duffey Lake area. As well a few natural size 1-1.5 naturally triggered windslabs in the alpine. On Tuesday there was a size 2 persistent slab avalanche reported on Joffre Shoulder. See this MIN report for more details.
Persistent slab avalanche activity has tapered significantly since early last week, but persistent slabs size 2-2.5 were still triggerable by explosives on the weekend.
Over 70 cm of recent snow in the past week has seen extensive wind affect at upper elevations, with scoured windward aspects, wind slabs in lee features and growing cornices at ridgetop. In sheltered areas below treeline, recent snow may be sitting on surface hoar.
A melt-freeze crust from early December is found around 80 to 180 cm deep in the snowpack. This crust may have surface hoar or sugary faceted grains sitting above it. This persistent weak layer is most prevalent in the north (e.g., Duffey Lake, Hurley) and found to a lesser extent in the south of the region.