Carefully assess terrain for wind slab as you gain elevation. Wind slabs will be more reactive where they overlie facets.
Westerly winds have formed wind slab on north and east aspects and likely cross loaded others. Wind slab will generally be found in the alpine but may have formed in some upper treeline features.
New wind slabs have likely formed over facets. These slabs will remain reactive a little longer than usual as a result.
Over the past couple days our field team has seen evidence of natural avalanches up to size 2.5 that likely released on Sunday. These avalanches were on northeast aspects at treeline or above and failed on a layer of facets formed during the cold period last week.
If you are headed out into the backcountry please consider filling out a Mountain information Network report.
Around 20cm of recent snow has been redistributed into wind slab on North and east aspects. In non-wind effected terrain this recent snow sits on a layer of facets formed during the cold snap. Below treeline the upper snowpack became moist on Monday and has now formed a new thin crust below 1000m.
A surface hoar and facet layer from early December, while spotty, can still be found down around 40cm.
In General snowpack depths are highly variable throughout the region.
Wednesday Night
Cloudy with light flurries bringing trace amounts of new snow. Light southwest winds and a Low of -12 at 1500m.
Thursday
Cloudy with light flurries bringing trace amounts of new snow. Light to moderate southerly winds and a high of -10 at 1500m.
Friday
Cloudy with flurries bringing trace amounts of new snow. Light southeast winds and a high of -8 at 1500m.
Saturday
Cloudy with light flurries bringing trace amounts of new snow. Light to moderate southwest winds and a high of -4 at 1500m.
More details can be found in the Mountain Weather Forecast.
