It's SNOWING! Well, 5cm isn't much but it's enough to make couloirs and steep, confined gullies active places for loose avalanches. It's best to give these types of terrain traps a miss today.
Weather Forecast
It's finally snowing!! Today, expect scattered flurries amounting to 5cm today, accompanied by light/mod SW winds and alpine highs of -8*C. Unsettled conditions continue for Fri/Sat, with flurries, light west winds, and alpine highs of -12*C.
Snowpack Summary
3cm of new snow covers surface facets, wind slabs, and sun crusts . Sun crusts will be found on steeper solar terrain making for difficult travel. Moderate to strong winds have deposited thin wind slabs on exposed terrain features at ridge-top and exposed treeline areas. The mid and lower snowpack is well settled and strong.
Avalanche Summary
Several loose dry avalanches to sz 2 were observed from Macdonald Gully 5, Cheops South, and the Generals out at the west end of Glacier yesterday.
Problems
Loose Dry
Loose Dry avalanches are the release of dry unconsolidated snow and typically occur within layers of soft snow near the surface of the snowpack. These avalanches start at a point and entrain snow as they move downhill, forming a fan-shaped avalanche. Other names for loose-dry avalanches include point-release avalanches or sluffs.
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.