Not a lot of reason to rush out to the backcountry ski areas right now. Heavy, wet snow is the norm. The valley bottom snowpack is steadily fading away to nothing... Might be a good time to finish off that holiday shopping.
Weather Forecast
Another brief blast of wind is expected tonight at higher elevations. Most of our alpine snowpack has blown away so unless there is a significant change in direction, the wind won't be an avalanche problem. The temps at alpine elevations are going to hover around 0. Freezing level will be 2100m. Today's high on the Spray was 4 degrees. Light precipitation is expected with most of it being rain mixed with a flurry or two.
Avalanche Summary
Limited observations today, but loose wet avalanches are expected to have been ongoing in very steep terrain.
Snowpack Summary
An average of 2cm was lost within the last 24hrs due to settlement. The settlement has stabilized suggesting the snowpack is quite dense and settled. In the long run this will be a positive thing, for now it means a wet, heavy snowpack that is not especially solid at treeline and below treeline elevations. Snowpack values are: Burstall Pass 90, Highwood 71, Aster Lk 94 and Burstall Parking 49.
Problems
Deep Persistent Slabs
Deep Persistent Slab avalanches are the release of a thick cohesive layer of hard snow (a slab), when the bond breaks between the slab and an underlying persistent weak layer deep in the snowpack. The most common persistent weak layers involved in deep, persistent slabs are depth hoar or facets surrounding a deeply buried crust. Deep Persistent Slabs are typically hard to trigger, are very destructive and dangerous due to the large mass of snow involved, and can persist for months once developed. They are often triggered from areas where the snow is shallow and weak, and are particularly difficult to forecast for and manage.
Loose Wet
Loose Wet avalanches are the release of wet unconsolidated snow or slush. These avalanches typically occur within layers of wet snow near the surface of the snowpack, but they may quickly gouge into lower snowpack layers. Like Loose Dry Avalanches, they start at a point and entrain snow as they move downhill, forming a fan-shaped avalanche. Other names for loose-wet avalanches include point-release avalanches or sluffs. Loose Wet avalanches can trigger slab avalanches that break into deeper snow layers.