Expect the dust on crust to sluff easily and travel quickly. Watch out for pockets of old wind slab that might be covered up now.
Weather Forecast
Expect a mix of sun and cloud with flurries today before an arctic front moves in tonight. The front will bring cold clear conditions until midweek with ridge top winds gusting to 40km/hr from the north tomorrow. The ridge breaks down by Thursday with a Pacific storm bringing precipitation to the coast and interior.
Snowpack Summary
Up to 5cm of new snow has covered a mix of surface hoar, facets, crust, pockets of soft snow and slab in isolated locations. The new snow will bond poorly and sluff easily on these previous surfaces. The Feb 14 crust down 20-25, up to 10cm thick. Persistent weak layers down 1-1.5m are stubborn to trigger but could be triggered by cornice fall.
Avalanche Summary
No new avalanches were observed yesterday. Recent natural avalanche activity has been limited to small skier triggered avalanches on isolated wind slabs and sun triggered loose avalanches on steep solar aspects.
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.