Surface conditions will be a clue for snow stability. Watch for areas with stiffer snow resting on top of the Dec 4th layer.
Weather Forecast
Cloudy with sunny periods tomorrow. No new snow. It will be a bit cooler with alpine highs hitting -13. 2500m winds will be 20-30 km/hr from the NW.
Avalanche Summary
Nothing new from the last 24hours.
Snowpack Summary
A surprising lack of wind affect at lower elevations right now. At valley bottom, the surface hoar layer is down 30cm's and at the moment is unreactive(no slab present). At treeline, the surface snow is showing signs of surface faceting and still no windslab. A test pit at 2350m had the Dec 4th interface down 40cm's and not reactive. Its important to note that the Dec 4th interface is a variety of different surfaces. Its currently either a crust, flattened surface hoar or a combination of both. In this pit, we did have a moderate shear just above the Dec 4th. This layer appeared to be a fine layer of broken grains. The alpine has some wind affect in some areas, but overall it is still soft and lacking a wide spread slab problem.Snow depths: Mud Lake 75, Burstall Pass 94, Aster Lake 84 & Dog Leg 110
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.