For those that make it to the alpine: well done! Now watch out for wind slabs.
Confidence
Low - Due to the number of field observations
Weather Forecast
Friday night: Dry and clear.Saturday: Dry, with cloud building through the day. Light southwesterly winds. Freezing level around 900 m.Sunday: Mostly dry during the day, with snow or rain starting in the evening. Light southerly winds. Freezing level rising rapidly to around 1500 m in the afternoon.Monday: A significant storm is expected bringing up to 70 mm rain, strong southerly winds and freezing levels around 2200 m.
Avalanche Summary
Small storm and wind slab avalanches were triggered by explosives and skiers in alpine terrain on Thursday.
Snowpack Summary
The deepest snow is found at alpine elevations, with amounts around 60-80 cm. Around 30 cm of new snow lies above previous wind slabs that formed with strong southerly winds on Wednesday. Below lies a thin crust, now buried around 50 cm. A thicker lower crust, that may be associated with weak faceted crystals in some places lies close to the ground. This is most likely to cause problems in glaciated terrain or on high slopes where the summer snow did not melt out.
Problems
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.