Some good winter skiing out there, but watch for surface and near surface wind slabs that are sensitive to human triggering.
Weather Forecast
Sunday will bring flurries to the region with accumulations near 10cm by end of day on Sunday. Alpine temperatures should reach a high -7 °C, with light easterly winds. Early next week will see a return to the unseasonably cold temperatures and some light intermittent flurries. Spring seems a long way off!!!
Avalanche Summary
Several loose dry avalanches up to size 2.0 were observed in steep terrain in the Alpine and at Treeline. A few thin slabs up to size 2.0 occurred in steep Alpine terrain on W and E aspects.
Snowpack Summary
Up to 25cm recent storm snow at Treeline. In the early stage of the storm the winds were strong from the NW switching to SW. This has formed surface and near surface wind slabs in the Alpine. Cornices have grown. At the tail end of the storm the winds tapered off and at Treeline and below there is little to no wind effect in the surface snow. A series of sun crusts are buried on solar aspects, but generally seem unreactive, however the Mar 15 crust down up to 30cm is still being monitored.
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.
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.