Gunnison

Widespread cycle of very small, shallow, mostly harmless Storm Slabs (dozens of R1/D1s) from Thursday (December 8th) at all elevations that ran on a mid-storm graupel layer. The graupel was still very cohesionless and poured out of profiles, but the 4 to 8 inch thick soft snow above that layer was stubborn and harmless on slopes less than 40 degrees steep.

Cold with a chilly north wind. Orographic showers dropped some diamond dust in the afternoon.

The December drought layer and Grinch crust now sit around 3 feet deep below a strong slab. Shallow areas, with a snowpack less than 3 feet thick, would be the most likely spot to trigger a Persistent Slab avalanche. Lots of walking about and snowpack tests produced no cracking in average or deeper locations. We got one hard, propagating ECT result that broke in the December facets in a shallower spot on a southwest-facing slope near the summit of Cascade Mountain. The base of the snowpack remains suspect with buried facet layers on most terrain features, but the overlying slabs are thick, strong, and hard to trigger.