IT'S NOT OVER, with another pulse of large natural avalanche activity last night. The snow pack will need cooling temperatures before it can heal, which isn't forecasted until next week. Large destructive avalanches are still possible today.
Weather Forecast
A mix of sun and cloud with isolated flurries today. A slight cooling trend with FL lowering to 1200m, winds should back off into the mod range, currently they're strong gusting to extreme. On Saturday the FL will rise again as we get crushed by another low pressure system, bringing 40mm and strong winds.
Snowpack Summary
Intense loading last night, with significant precipitation (5mm+ an hour) and strong winds created new touchy storm and wind slabs. Yesterday we received 30-40mm of precipitation, with FL hovering near 2000m, these storm layers sit on the previous 60+ cm of HST from earlier this week. The late feb interface is now down 1-1.5m.
Avalanche Summary
Last Friday was the beginning of this long tenured natural avalanche cycle, peaking yesterday and last night with significant precipitation amounts, strong winds & warm temperatures. Yesterday we initiated 63 Artillery controlled avalanches to size 4, we saw 40+ naturals in the highway corridor to size 3. IT'S NOT OVER and on sat it'll peak again!
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.
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.