Recently formed slabs remain sensitive to human triggering at higher elevations. Also, be mindful of solar radiation and its destabilizing effect on the snowpack on solar aspects.
Weather Forecast
A mix of sun and cloud expected on Wednesday with temperatures near -2 celsius in the alpine. Winds will be out of the NW at 25 to 45km/h with freezing levels near 2000m. A new system will push in Thursday bringing strong winds, cloudy skies and light precipitation.
Avalanche Summary
Several solar triggered sluffs up to size 2.0 observed today in the alpine. A few slab avalanches up to size 2.0 were also observed in steep alpine terrain on all aspects. These slabs involved only the storm snow.
Snowpack Summary
The snowpack is highly variable depending on aspect and elevation. Storm snow from last weekend has settled out to 40cm at treeline. The interface beneath this storm snow continues to give moderate sudden planar results in snowpack tests on polar aspects. Some areas at upper treeline elevations have a thin buried slab above this interface that was formed early in the storm. Wind speeds decreased dramatically at the end of the storm leaving mainly low density snow above these thin slabs. More extensive slab formation occurred in the alpine and several recent avalanches can be associated to this issue. On solar aspects a completely different situation exists. The storm snow is settling rapidly and appears well bonded to the previous surface of sun crust, except at higher elevations in the alpine where the bond seems less solid. Snow was again turning moist on the surface today in steep terrain on all solar aspects. On all aspects below 2100m the recent snow sits on a very dense and strong rain crust about 1cm thick.
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.
Loose Wet
Loose Wet avalanches are the release of wet unconsolidated snow or slush. These avalanches typically occur within layers of wet snow near the surface of the snowpack, but they may quickly gouge into lower snowpack layers. Like Loose Dry Avalanches, they start at a point and entrain snow as they move downhill, forming a fan-shaped avalanche. Other names for loose-wet avalanches include point-release avalanches or sluffs. Loose Wet avalanches can trigger slab avalanches that break into deeper snow layers.
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.