Quick report
- Red Flags
- Heavy Snowfall
- Red Flags Comment
- <p>Spike in snowfall in the early afternoon made for initaiting very easy sluffs in the storm snow on slopes > ~ 33 degrees. Poor visibility, but wouldn't be surprised if there was a small natural cycle in some terrain during this time.</p>
Overall Moderate hazard where we were traveling today with sluffing within the storm snow the primary avalanche hazard. It was quite manageable with effective ski cuts on steeper rollovers. The preserved layer of NSF currently not a concern today as today's storm snow was very soft and not acting as a cohesive slab, but may become a concern with additional snow.
Photo shows the upper 75 cms of the snowpack, highlighting the preserved layer of NSF now down 15-20 cms (6-8")
Video discussion of the storm snow, and preserved layer of facets.
Snowpack
- Instability Comment
- <p>Storm snow was sluffing quite easily on steeper terrain. Given there wasn't that much storm snow, it was very easy to manage and mitigate as ski cuts were quite effective. Will identify the problem as increasing danger, but it should settle out fairly soon once snowfall winds down.</p> <p>The layer of NSF that formed from the clear spell this past Thursday through Sunday was preserved underneath the storm snow. The 15-20 cms (6-8") of storm snow wasn't enough of a cohesive slab to make this layer reactive, but with additional snow overnight - as well as more expected throughout this week - I wouldn't be surprised to see failures at this weak layer. For today it was not really an issue where we were traveling but am guessing this may become an issue as unsettled weather is expected this week. (Footnote: I did see Mark White's obs from PC ridgeline where it <strong>was</strong> an issue today!)</p>
When exiting at about 1500, there was 20 cms (8") new at 9000', with lesser amounts below that elevation. Very low density fluff!