Watch for lingering wind slabs that may be reactive to rider triggers.
Confidence
High - The weather pattern is stable
Weather Forecast
The high pressure continues, resulting in a fairly benign pattern until Friday.Wednesday/ Thursday: Mostly sunny with alpine temperatures near -12. Ridgetop winds will be light from the northeast. Friday: Cloudy with snow amounts 5-10 cm. Alpine high of -4 and ridgetop winds light-gusting strong from the southwest.
Avalanche Summary
On Monday, isolated wind slabs up to size 1 were triggered by the weight of a rider. Wind slabs may continue to be reactive in the lee of exposed terrain.
Snowpack Summary
Strong winds and up to 15 cm of recent snow over the weekend have formed fresh reactive wind slabs in the lee of exposed terrain. The new snow sits above a thin breakable sun crust and isolated pockets of buried surface hoar. Some recent snowpack tests have shown hard, yet sudden planar results on the mid-January interface (facets) buried approximately 45 cm down. A total of 60-120 cm of settled storm snow now forms the upper snowpack and is generally bonded to a crust below. The exception may be thin rocky areas. The mid and lower snowpack are generally well settled, but still feature a number of facet and crust layers that warrant long term monitoring.
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.