Quick report
- Red Flags
- Wind Loading, Cracking
- Red Flags Comment
- <p>Spent a few hours up in the wind zone this afternoon, observing lots of snow being moved around along the ridge lines. Moderate to strong southwest winds were forming shallow and manageable wind slabs early in the afternoon, but by days end I would imagine these are getting a bit deeper and wider on the north through east facing slopes. </p>
This afternoon I was finding these fresh shallow wind slabs along the high ridgelines that face north through northeast. They did need a little prodding with a small chunk of snow dropped on the slope. These were manageable in size at the time, but by the end of the day I would imagine they were getting deeper and wider.
Snowpack
- Instability Comment
- <p>Today's steady gusty winds and forecasted storm with a strong cold front moving in, these wind slabs will be much deeper and not so manageable tomorrow.</p> <p>Looking at the forecasted water amounts, many slopes with buried faceted weak layers could easily become overloaded and avalanche naturally.</p>
In the exposed wind areas, the snow was beginning to stiffen and slab-up, but once out of the wind, snow conditions remain quite good in sheltered terrain.