Watch for wind loaded pockets below ridge crests and steep roll-overs. Small human-triggered wind slab avalanches have surprised a few skiers recently.
Recent wind direction has varied from northwest to southwest, creating wind slabs on a variety of aspects in exposed alpine terrain. Where wind slabs sit over a crust, they may be more sensitive to triggering.
Wednesday night: Clear. Winds light northwest. Freezing level dropping to valley bottom.
Thursday: Flurries bringing up to 5 cm new snow. Winds moderate southwest. Freezing level 1000 m.
Friday: Flurries. Winds moderate northwest. Freezing level 1100 m.
Saturday: Flurries. Winds moderate southwest. Freezing level 1100 m.
A few small (size 1) skier-triggered wind slab avalanches were reported on east/northeast aspects in the alpine on Monday and Tuesday. One of these was reported to have slid on a crust buried around 20 cm below the surface.
A bit of new snow and wind will further wind slab development in lee features at alpine and upper treeline elevations. Recent winds have varied in direction so wind slabs can be found on a variety of aspects. A thick rain crust as high as 2000 m sits below 25-45 cm of recent storm snow in the east of the region and 40-100 cm in the west. Recent avalanches slid on the crust or released within the storm snow. However, recent information indicates the bond at the crust is improving.
Weak facet/crust layers near the base of the snowpack have not been an active avalanche problem recently.
