Cool Arctic air is pushing in to the Northwest. Expect outflow winds (from the north or east) to start creating new wind slabs in exposed lee terrain.
Weather Forecast
Summary: Clearing and cooling with invading arctic airmass. Thursday: A mix of sun and cloud with a chance of flurries. Temperatures at 1500 m drop close to -20. Winds are moderate to strong from the northeast. Friday and Saturday: Mainly sunny and cold. Winds are strong from the NE.
Avalanche Summary
A Size 2 avalanche was observed in a steep southeast facing bowl at 2300 m a few days ago, but there are no recent observations. Please let us know what you're seeing out there. Email us at [email protected].
Snowpack Summary
As we begin our forecasting season, we are working with limited information from the field. Recent reports from Hudson Bay Mountain suggest an overall shallow snowpack with approximately 20cm of recent storm snow sitting on a crust that formed earlier in the month. This interface was found to be faceted and produced hard but sudden shears while testing. The recent storm snow has also likely been redistributed into locally deep slabs on lee slopes at alpine elevations. Check the bond of the snowpack at this level and take a cautious approach.
Problems
Wind Slabs
Wind Slab avalanches are the release of a cohesive layer of snow (a slab) formed by the wind. Wind typically transports snow from the upwind sides of terrain features and deposits snow on the downwind side. Wind slabs are often smooth and rounded and sometimes sound hollow, and can range from soft to hard. Wind slabs that form over a persistent weak layer (surface hoar, depth hoar, or near-surface facets) may be termed Persistent Slabs or may develop into Persistent Slabs.