Yesterday we had winds...today we had winds and warmer temps. This combo may have built small windslabs near ridges. Inspect lee terrain before commiting to it.
Weather Forecast
Mainly cloudy with isolated flurries. Trace amounts of snow from some light flurries in the morning. The alpine will reach -8 with Westerly winds gusting to 40km/hr.
Avalanche Summary
There are still occasional loose dry sluffs out of very steep alpine terrain.
Snowpack Summary
Warmer air has done little to help with the facetted, weak snowpack we now suffer from. Below treeline the snowpack has some structure left near the bottom, but the surface is still very weak. Ski penetration averages 20-30cm in open terrain with a total snow depth of 70-90cm's. Treeline is a similar story, except with a deeper snowpack. The alpine has seen some wind(from the NW) transport over the last couple of days, so isolated windslabs may be present near immediate lees. Burstall Pass has 105cm & Mud lake has 80cm on the ground.
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.
Loose Dry
Loose Dry avalanches are the release of dry unconsolidated snow and typically occur within layers of soft snow near the surface of the snowpack. These avalanches start at a point and entrain snow as they move downhill, forming a fan-shaped avalanche. Other names for loose-dry avalanches include point-release avalanches or sluffs.