Wind Slabs
- Alta montaña
- Límite del bosque
- Bajo el límite del bosque
- Probabilidad
- Possible
- Tamaño
- 1–1.5
Yesterday, moderate winds out of the west and north-northwest at NTL and ATL continued to move snow around the San Francisco Peaks. Already established wind slabs may have accumulated newer and more reactive snow. Skiers and riders should watch for wind slab presence in specific terrain features such as the leeward side of ridgelines, in avalanche path starting zones, in crossloaded gullies, chutes, and on steep convex rollovers. Wind slab avalanches will be more sensitive in steep terrain. A wind slab avalanche could be encountered on any aspect due to microterrain features and multiple wind directions occurring in the last 24 hours.
Today, light winds with moderate gusts are forecast for the region. Winds could shift back to the west as early as this morning. Many west and southwest facing slopes are stripped up high and have anti-tracks in wide open slopes near treeline. Don't let these observations lull you into a sense of overconfidence. Continue to be on the lookout for cracking and use assessments on upper terrain to gain a sense of the potential reactivity of these slabs. Wind slab avalanches will likely be small today with crowns of 4-8" and may partially bury a skier or rider, or cause a fall over rocks or other steep terrain.
Thus far the new snow seems to be bonding well with the old snow bed surface. However, this may not be the case everywhere on the mountain. Continue to look for signs of ideal bed surface such as sliding out of the skin track or new snow shearing away from the old snow surface. These are signs that wind slabs could be more reactive and occur over a larger area. Using appropriate travel techniques, such as keeping eyes on one another and moving cautiously when encountering new aspects and microterrain features, will be important today.