Natural avalanches possible, human triggered probable.
Treeline
Natural avalanches unlikely, human triggered possible.
Below Treeline
Natural avalanches unlikely, human triggered possible.
Alpine
Natural avalanches unlikely, human triggered possible.
Treeline
Natural avalanches unlikely, human triggered possible.
Below Treeline
Natural avalanches unlikely, human triggered possible.
Alpine
Natural avalanches possible, human triggered probable.
Treeline
Natural avalanches possible, human triggered probable.
Below Treeline
Natural avalanches possible, human triggered probable.
Regions
Glacier.
Keep a heads up for increased avalanche activity on solar aspects if the sun pokes out today! Pockets of windslab may exist on northerly aspects in the alpine.
Weather Forecast
Cloudy with sunny periods today with no precipitation and light winds from the west. The alpine is forecast to reach a high of -4C with freezing level rising to 1800 m. Today will mark the beginning of a significant warming trend that will continue into next week, where freezing levels are forecast to skyrocket to near 3200m by Wednesday.
Snowpack Summary
On solar aspects, sun crusts are buried 15cm and 50cm and are several centimeters thick. Moderate southerly winds have redistributed the recent 50-60 cm of storm snow, which sits on a sun crust on solar aspects, hard slab in exposed areas, and facets in sheltered locations.
Avalanche Summary
Solar input triggered dry loose avalanches from steep slopes to size 2.0 yesterday. Some of these loose avalanches initiated small slabs. On Wed, a human-triggered size 1.5 avalanche on Glacier Crest took 2 people for a short ride on a W aspect at 2100m.
Confidence
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.
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.