A fresh dusting on a moderate surface crust, accompanied by cooler temperatures today, should keep the hazard at moderate today.
Weather Forecast
Scattered flurries with the occasional sunny break should dominate the weather pattern for the day. Freezing levels may climb to 1500m, but this is relatively cool for this time of year. Winds will be moderate from the west.
Snowpack Summary
Yesterday's storm brought 5-10cm to the alpine, with a light dusting to 1300m. Below this fresh snow, a minor crust recovery occurred overnight that supports the weight of a person. Several crusts exist in the top meter of the snowpack on solar aspects. Isothermal snow developing below tree line.
Avalanche Summary
5 natural avalanches up to size 2.5 in the highway corridor yesterday, with the deposits being wet, concrete-like mounds in the run-out zones.
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.
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.