Wind Slabs
- Alpine
- Treeline
- Below treeline
- Likelihood
- Possible
- Size
- 1–2
After a quiet day in the backcountry yesterday, the east winds kicked up again last night along with some light snowfall (rain below 1500'). It looks as though 1-4" of snow has fallen above 2,000' in the Girdwood and Turnagain Pass areas with Summit Lake and Seward getting left out of the fun. All places saw the easterly winds however, averaging 20-30 mph and gusts near 50. Today a few more snowflakes could fall with winds slowing slightly, 15-20 mph with gusts near 40.
What this means is: a little bit of new snow plus another round of wind = new wind slab avalanches. These slabs are not likely to be very big, maybe up to a foot thick and confined to those exposed mid elevations and higher elevations that are seeing the bigger winds. If skies clear enough today, keep an eye out for active wind loading and areas where winds may have drifted snow. Cracking in the snow around you and stiffer snow over softer snow are also clues for finding a wind slab. Observers that have been out the past few days have noted the wind slabs stabilizing fairly quickly with the warm conditions, but we should not solely rely on that thought. Every wind slab is suspect of avalanching.
The warm weather yesterday created roller balls and small wet loose avalanches in the mid and lower elevations. Temperatures are a bit cooler today, but we could still see some small moist sluffs in the new snow, especially in the afternoon.
Glide Avalanches: Several glide cracks have been slowly opening through the region with one releasing a few days ago on the south end of Seattle Ridge. As always, it's a good habit to look for and avoid being under these glide cracks. They can release into scary avalanches at random.