Cloudy skies prevented a good surface crust to develop. Expect unstable conditions from the loose, wet snowpack at lower elevations.
Weather Forecast
We will see brief but intense bursts of convective snowfall, bringing moderate amounts to local areas. Winds will likely gust moderate to strong during these squalls, then back off to light afterwards. Freezing levels will be around 1500-1800m.
Snowpack Summary
A poor freeze has left the surface snow moist and mushy at lower elevations, although some dry snow may be found on due north aspects above 2000m. Extreme winds may have blown this into slabs in exposed lee areas. The mid to lower snowpack is very well settled.
Avalanche Summary
Yesterday, several natural size 2 avalanches were noted from solar and polar aspects. These occurred mainly in the afternoon at the warmest and windiest time of day. A notable size 3.5 occurred at the peak of the warmth 2 days ago on a SW aspect, showing that the persistent weak layers are still active once the snowpack warms up enough.
Problems
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.
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.