Cooler temperatures have formed solid supportive crusts and some new snow at treeline has freshened up the surfaces out there. Tonight the winds will be moving the new snow around into small wind slabs. Thursday temps will sky rocket again.
Confidence
Moderate - Freezing levels are uncertain
Weather Forecast
Mainly cloudy with isolated flurries. High of 0 C. Winds will be moderate to strong from the west. Freeze levels at 2300 meters
Avalanche Summary
Little to no avalanche activity in the last 24 hours to report.
Snowpack Summary
Last night we saw improved recovery (ie better freeze) that has improved snowpack stability by the development of a strong surface crust and has thus reduced the hazard. Telemetry has indicated that we received 17 cm of snow at treeline elevations and so up to 20 cm may have accumulated in the alpine with light winds overnight. The remainder of the snowpack will be largely settled grains with a mix of older buried crusts and conglomerated larger facets in shallow snowpack areas.
Problems
Deep Persistent Slabs
Deep Persistent Slab avalanches are the release of a thick cohesive layer of hard snow (a slab), when the bond breaks between the slab and an underlying persistent weak layer deep in the snowpack. The most common persistent weak layers involved in deep, persistent slabs are depth hoar or facets surrounding a deeply buried crust. Deep Persistent Slabs are typically hard to trigger, are very destructive and dangerous due to the large mass of snow involved, and can persist for months once developed. They are often triggered from areas where the snow is shallow and weak, and are particularly difficult to forecast for and manage.
Cornices
Cornice Fall is the release of an overhanging mass of snow that forms as the wind moves snow over a sharp terrain feature, such as a ridge, and deposits snow on the downwind (leeward) side. Cornices range in size from small wind drifts of soft snow to large overhangs of hard snow that are 30 feet (10 meters) or taller. They can break off the terrain suddenly and pull back onto the ridge top and catch people by surprise even on the flat ground above the slope. Even small cornices can have enough mass to be destructive and deadly. Cornice Fall can entrain loose surface snow or trigger slab avalanches.