Wind Slabs
- Alta quota
- Limite del bosco
- Sotto il limite del bosco
- Probabilità
- Likely
- Dimensione
- 1–2
Wind slabs will build through Thursday night and Friday. Wind will be moving snow to north and east facing slopes below ridge tops and other features that are conducive to collecting wind transported snow. As drifts become deeper, resulting avalanches can become larger. Ease into terrain by checking out the wind loading on lower angle slopes. Monitor the depth of wind slabs and look for signs of unstable snow.
Watch for signs of blowing snow to indicate slopes are becoming loaded. Look for visual clues on the snow surface, such as pillowy deposits and wavy or ripply surface texture, to let you know if previous wind transport has occured. Wind slabs forming over buried surface hoar may run faster and wider than they typically would. Wind deposited snow can be many times deeper than the snow the storm has dropped out of the sky.