A windy day in store for tomorrow. Watch steeper terrain at treeline and alpine elevations as wind slabs are lingering. South aspects will likely be crusty.
Weather Forecast
Increasing winds overnight and into tomorrow. Ridge top winds re predicted to be in 50-60km/hr mark. Scattered flurries will give a few more centimeters by the end of tomorrow. Alpine high of -4 with a freezing level of 2000m.
Avalanche Summary
Loose dry avalanches were noted, however they were small and inconsequential.
Snowpack Summary
5-10 cm came in from last night's storm. This new snow settled and quickly bonded as the temps warmed up today. On south aspects and low elevations, the new snow lies on an existing crust and on more polar aspects it rests on drier snow. There was evidence of ongoing wind transport and new windlslabs at treeline and above with a widespread distribution. By early afternoon, any solar aspect had moist snow with some pinwheeling and wet rock from melting.
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.
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.