Avalanche danger is higher in places where the recent storm dropped the most snow.
Problemi valanghivi
Wind Slabs
N
NE
E
SE
S
SW
W
NW
Alta quota
Limite del bosco
Sotto il limite del bosco
Probabilità
Likely
Dimensione
1–3
New and old wind slabs are lurking on many alpine and treeline slopes.
Persistent Slabs
N
NE
E
SE
S
SW
W
NW
Alta quota
Limite del bosco
Sotto il limite del bosco
Probabilità
Unlikely - Possible
Dimensione
3–6
A cornice fall or wind slab could step down and trigger a deeply buried weak layer, creating a surprisingly large avalanche.
Avalanche Summary
Isolated wind slab avalanches were reported over the last few days. Several large persistent slabs failed naturally in the north of the region last weekend. This weak layer was reported to be reactive to skier triggering from thin spots, as well as heavy triggers such as a smaller avalanches or cornice failures.
Confidence
Moderate - Due to the number of field observations
Weather Forecast
Saturday is expected to be cloudy with a few flurries. A front on Sunday brings light snow, moderate SW winds and cooling temperatures. Snowfall and winds ease on Monday.
Snowpack Summary
Recent snow has been heaviest in the west and north of the region, creating new storm slabs and wind slabs. It also rained up to 1500 m in the south and 1000 m in the north on Thursday, so the low elevation snow surface is likely to turn into a crust once temperatures drop. The recent snow overlies widespread hard old wind slabs, scoured surfaces, a thin sun crust on sunny aspects, and surface hoar in isolated sheltered and shady locations. A melt freeze crust buried around February 12th, down about 50-80 cm, extends up to about 2000 m. A layer of surface hoar buried late in January remains a lingering concern. Shallow snowpack areas may also have a weak base of facets near the ground.