Cornices
- Alta quota
- Limite del bosco
- Sotto il limite del bosco
- Probabilità
- Unlikely
- Dimensione
- 1
Today's avalanche problems look similar to yesterday's. A few areas of unstable snow may still exist on isolated terrain features in the form of hard wind slabs on top of weak snow in pockets of near and above treeline terrain and soft slabs on weak snow in small areas on northerly aspects below treeline (especially in the southern part of the forecast area). Triggering one of these instabilities remains unlikely today. Firm icy snow surfaces still exist on most exposed near and above treeline exposed slopes. A fall or a slip could be hard to arrest on these slopes in steeper terrain. Numerous obstacles and hazards still remain exposed or barely covered.
The incoming storm will bring increased avalanche hazard for tomorrow. The new snow will fall on top of a variety of firm surfaces and weak snow. Expect to see wind slab and storm slab avalanche problems across the forecast area tomorrow. Wind slabs will start to form as soon as snowfall starts to accumulate after midnight tonight. Since the forecast calls for the bulk of the accumulation to occur between early and mid-morning tomorrow, these wind slabs should remain small during the night. By mid-morning tomorrow, they may have grown to a problematic size. Storm slabs should follow a similar pattern: starting to form overnight as the snowfall starts but not becoming large enough to pose problems until the peak of the accumulation tomorrow morning. IF the storm moves faster than expected and most of the accumulation occurs tonight instead of early to mid-morning tomorrow, the avalanche danger could rise during the night. If for some reason you have to travel in the backcountry during the night or very early tomorrow morning, check the Reno NWS page and the remote weather pages for updated forecasts and conditions to see if the storm arrived faster than forecasted.