Touchy storm slabs now lay on top of a supportive Spring crust. Natural (sun, wind-loading, etc) or human triggering of these new slabs is likely today.
Weather Forecast
April flurries bring powder skiing back in a hurry. Today will be mainly cloudy with sunny periods, light/moderate SW winds, and freezing levels (FZL) around 1900m. Friday through Sunday will be unsettled with 5-10cm each day, light to moderate SW winds, and FZL at 1900m during the day and dropping to 1600m overnight.
Snowpack Summary
10cm of new snow overnight, accompanied by mod/strong Southerly winds, will have formed thin storm slabs at Tree-line and Alpine elevations. This sits on a strong melt/freeze crust. Below the crust, the snowpack is isothermal in thin snowpack areas BTL. The mid and lower snowpack is strong at Tree-line and above where depths are over 2m.
Avalanche Summary
No new avalanches have been observed in the forecast region over the last several days. Last week, numerous glide cracks were opening up and failing at and below treeline on solar aspects. Suspect there was natural avalanche activity overnight on Alpine lee features with the new snow and winds.
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.
Loose Wet
Loose Wet avalanches are the release of wet unconsolidated snow or slush. These avalanches typically occur within layers of wet snow near the surface of the snowpack, but they may quickly gouge into lower snowpack layers. Like Loose Dry Avalanches, they start at a point and entrain snow as they move downhill, forming a fan-shaped avalanche. Other names for loose-wet avalanches include point-release avalanches or sluffs. Loose Wet avalanches can trigger slab avalanches that break into deeper snow layers.