Persistent Slabs
- Alpine
- Treeline
- Below treeline
- Likelihood
- Likely
- Size
- 4
Things are going to change a bit over the next few days regarding the buried Persistent Weak Layer and the very warm temperatures today through the weekend. Human triggered avalanches are still likely on the northerly facing upper elevation steep slopes. However, we will want to also avoid steep east and west facing slopes as the sun and warm temperatures may be enough to warm the snow to the point that natural avalanches break into the buried weak layer. My suspicion is that this won't be today. Friday and especially Saturday are the most likely days for heat initiated avalanches. However, this stuff is tricky to predict. Here are the two things I can say for sure:
- We have a buried weak layer about 3' down in the snowpack that remains unstable.
- We will have very warm temperatures from now through the weekend.
These two factors often will produce natural avalanches. Continue to use extra caution if you are going into the mountains. It is wise to just avoid all the steep slopes while this weak layer remains active.