The sun is packing a strong punch these days. When it does make an appearance, expect the snow to become unstable. High North aspects still have good skiing.
Weather Forecast
The spring weather pattern continues for another day. Starting Monday the temperatures will take a dramatic turn to the warmer side. Until then we'll see freezing levels hover around 1600m, and convective weather moving through areas near the divide. Snow accumulations will be negligible. The winds will continue with a strong pulse tonight in the alpine.
Avalanche Summary
No new observations today
Snowpack Summary
Today's field trip took us to a notoriously thin snowpack area on the east side of the Smith Dorrien Road.. The HS varied from 20-50cm's. At treeline, we found the bottom layers to be very weak and consisted mostly of depth hoar and facets. Above that base layer sits a slab that has lost most of its structure from the freeze/thaw cycles. No whumphing or cracking was observed. The day time warming has begun to stabilize all aspects up to 2100m. Any slope that has seen the sun now has a 1-2cm sun crust on top. In other areas in the park, the Feb 10 is down 120-140cm's at treeline with hard shears. The recent winds have created windslabs in open areas at treeline and above. These are not reactive at the moment and expected to bond quickly to the underlying layers. Generally lots of snow settlement in all areas.
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.