Wind Slabs
- Alta montaña
- Límite del bosque
- Bajo el límite del bosque
- Probabilidad
- Very Likely
- Tamaño
- 2
Along the unobstructed ridge lines, southwest winds blew 20-25 miles per hour for much of the night with gusts reaching 40 mph. This easily transported new snow to northeast through east-facing slopes, and created sensitive wind drifts. Where deposits overlie weak surface snow, wind slabs will be especially sensitive and could be triggered at a distance. Although north through east-facing slopes are the most suspect, wind channeling and cross-loading around terrain features will drift snow on other aspects.
New snow avalanches are possible even in terrain protected from wind loading. The new snow could bond poorly to crusts, could overlie weak snow, or could have a mid-storm weakness. A quick slope cut before committing to higher consequence lines will let you know if the new snow is sluffing as manageable dry loose avalanches, or if it is breaking in larger soft slabs like those leading to the accident in Cardiac Bowl on March 24th
At lower elevations wind drifts will not be a concern: the winds were light overnight, and the precipitation came as either rain or very wet snow.