Above zero overnight alpine temps have prevented a good overnight recovery. Continued daily warming & solar will add even more stress to the snowpack. Be very cautious on slopes where the snow is becoming moist and steer clear of cornices!
Weather Forecast
A strong ridge of high pressure remains in place today, which brings strong sun and warm temps. Today will be a mix of sun and cloud, with no precipitation, light wind & an Alpine high of +2'C & freezing levels to 2500m. Above 0 temps overnight will have prevented any refreeze of the snowpack. High pressure remains in place until the weekend.
Snowpack Summary
Temps remained well above 0 overnight in the Alpine leaving the surface moist & keeping it from its nightly refreeze. Any surface crust will be thin and will break down quickly. Snow is still dry on true North facing slopes in the high Alpine & wind slabs can be found on lee features. Within the snowpack there are multiple crusts in the top meter.
Avalanche Summary
Solar and warm temperatures have been triggering loose wet avalanches, as well as moist slab avalanches up to size 3 yesterday. Recent activity has been primarily from sun exposed slopes and from cornices. Glide crack releases have been releasing as large destructive wet avalanches.
Confidence
Freezing levels are uncertain
Problems
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.
Cornices
Cornice Fall is the release of an overhanging mass of snow that forms as the wind moves snow over a sharp terrain feature, such as a ridge, and deposits snow on the downwind (leeward) side. Cornices range in size from small wind drifts of soft snow to large overhangs of hard snow that are 30 feet (10 meters) or taller. They can break off the terrain suddenly and pull back onto the ridge top and catch people by surprise even on the flat ground above the slope. Even small cornices can have enough mass to be destructive and deadly. Cornice Fall can entrain loose surface snow or trigger slab avalanches.
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.