The big storm did not arrive on Monday as forecasted, but current snow is burying a variety of layers including crusts and surface hoar. These will be layers to watch over the next several days. Wind loading is expected to increase on Tuesday.
Confidence
Fair - Due to limited field observations
Weather Forecast
Moderate snowfall will continue through Monday night with a break expected on Tuesday morning. Light precipitation is expected for the remainder of the week. Winds will increase on Tuesday up to strong out of the SW.
Avalanche Summary
No new avalanches were observed, but visibility was very limited.
Snowpack Summary
The expected 25 to 30cm of forecasted snow failed to materialize with only 1 to 2cm accumulating by mid afternoon. A sun crust is beginning to be buried on all solar aspects all the way to ridgetop. In addition, a melt freeze crust up to 2200m on north aspects and isolated pockets of surface hoar at all elevations are currently being buried. These will be layers to watch in the near future.
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.