The snowpack is generally shallow and poorly consolidated. Windslabs exist in the Alpine and if triggered could step down to deeper instabilities.
Weather Forecast
Mainly cloudy with isolated flurries up to 2-4cms by Wednesday morning. Alpine high of -9, freezing level to 1000m. Light, gusting to moderate winds from the West through Wednesday, switching to a short lived Northerly flow by Thursday bringing ~5mm of precip according to some models. Clearing Thursday night into Friday.
Snowpack Summary
The snowpack is generally shallow and poorly consolidated, significant variation exists within the forecasting area. Test results in Portal Crk showed mod-hard results dwn 60cm on facets 2-3mm with a sudden fracture character. This layer could be hard to trigger but could go big if it was. Windslab in the alpine and suncrust below Treeline.
Avalanche Summary
No new avalanches observed or reported.
Confidence
Due to the number of field observations
Problems
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.
Wind Slabs
Wind Slab avalanches are the release of a cohesive layer of snow (a slab) formed by the wind. Wind typically transports snow from the upwind sides of terrain features and deposits snow on the downwind side. Wind slabs are often smooth and rounded and sometimes sound hollow, and can range from soft to hard. Wind 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.