Very large avalanches are occurring as a historic avalanche cycle continues. Carefully manage your exposure to any overhead hazard or large terrain features.
Weather Forecast
The storm is over and temperatures are dropping. Tuesday will be cloudy with sunny periods and light SE winds. Despite this cooling trend the late March solar radiation will be intense whenever the sun is shining. Tuesday and Wednesday should be slightly milder.
Avalanche Summary
An avalanche cycle continues, with recent slab avalanches up to size 3.5 occurring on all aspects at all elevations. Many of the avalanches today occurred in common ski touring terrain. All of the avalanches are stepping down to the basal weak layers. Crowns are up to 1.5m deep and propagations have been wide. Many avalanches have reached or exceeded their historic run-outs, in some cases destroying significant tracts of mature forest. Avalanche control work today on EEOR, the Big Sister and Mt Buller produced results up to size 3.0.
Snowpack Summary
Rain turned to snow overnight with as much as 12cm of new snow at Treeline elevations with strong West winds. Further wind slab development on all aspects. Natural avalanche activity continued today up to size 3.0 with most slides stepping down to the basal layers.
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.
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.