It is a season of slow changes. These layers are very slow to change, even with short term changes in weather. Settle in, we have a ways to go before our snow problems go away.
Weather Forecast
Cloudy tomorrow with a chance of some sunny breaks. A daytime high tomorrow of -14. Light winds from the SW. No snow is expected. Pretty much a carbon copy of Thursday's weather.
Avalanche Summary
Some sz2 were noted below alpine cliffs on NE aspects.
Snowpack Summary
A few centimeters fell overnight, but not enough to cause a change in the snowpack. The continued cold temperatures are weakening the snowpack through faceting. This is a double edge sword, windslabs are weakening ,which will help stability in some places. But at the same time, the surface faceting will probably create another weak layer once we get more snow. Is the glass half empty, or half full? Snow depths vary through the region. Treeline has about a meter, while the valley bottoms have about 60cm. Generally the Dec 10th is down about 50-70cm at treeline. The "touchyness" of the Feb 10th seems to vary from drainage to drainage. Have a look/assessment if you are traveling in new terrain or haven't been out in awhile.
Problems
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.
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.