Quick report
- Red Flags
- Wind Loading
Traveled to usually-sheltered spots today but knew that the game was up shortly after entering the drainage. The wind had sculpted and transported snow even at valley bottom (pic). It might have snowed yesterday but you wouldn't know it, as all snow had been blown from the trees, making the warm wind ahead of the storm feel evn more gloomy.
I was traveling alone so I didn't approach any windload to see how sensitive it may be. I suspct the potential for human triggered and even natural avalanches tomorrow, with wind drifts hidden by new snow.
Snowpack
- Instability Comment
- <p>The wind today was incredible. The small shift in direction from the usual SW to just due S had winds sweeping up the valleys and running amok. While the winds were southerly, wind transport was occuring almost all the way around the compass, with significant transport onto east and west facing slopes like Powder Park 3, the E side of The Cone, and West Willow. Dense wind drifts and cornices were forming in realtime and the skintrack was getting obliterated even in the lower, usually sheltered elevations.</p> <p>As noted above, cornices are growing on E-W-N, some becoming large enough to be hazardous.</p>