Previous winds have created pockets of wind slab in the Alpine and at treeline. Keep a heads up as you transition into these areas.
Weather Forecast
A weak low pressure system brings scattered flurries to our region today. We could see 5-10cms of accumulation. Temperatures will remain cool with an alpine high of -13.0 and light ridgetop winds occasionally gusting to 35km/h. On Sunday, cold arctic air moves into our region with temperatures dropping into the minus 20s.
Snowpack Summary
Storm snow remains unsettled with up to 50cm of ski penetration. Ongoing southerly winds have created reactive pockets of wind slab in exposed areas. On solar aspects, a well developed crust is buried 40cm. Persistent weak layers from January and December are now buried 150-200cm.
Avalanche Summary
Natural avalanche activity tapered slightly yesterday. On Thursday a hand-full of natural avalanches were observed to size 3 in the highway corridor, most were in steep un-ridable North facing terrain. Also size 2.5 was reported in Connaught drainage in the Cheops North 1 slide path that ran to the valley bottom, nearly hitting the skin track.
Confidence
Intensity of incoming weather systems is uncertain
Problems
Storm Slabs
Storm Slab avalanches are the release of a cohesive layer (a slab) of new snow that breaks within new snow or on the old snow surface. Storm-slabs typically last between a few hours and few days (following snowfall). Storm-slabs that form over a persistent weak layer (surface hoar, depth hoar, or near-surface facets) may be termed Persistent Slabs or may develop into Persistent Slabs.
Persistent Slabs
Persistent Slab avalanches are the release of a cohesive layer of snow (a slab) in the middle to upper snowpack, when the bond to an underlying persistent weak layer breaks. Persistent layers include: surface hoar, depth hoar, near-surface facets, or faceted snow. Persistent weak layers can continue to produce avalanches for days, weeks or even months, making them especially dangerous and tricky. As additional snow and wind events build a thicker slab on top of the persistent weak layer, this avalanche problem may develop into a Deep Persistent Slab.