Went looking for some weak snow today and unfortunately I found some. Two areas of concern for me moving forward are the near surface facets forming at the top of the snow pack around the crusts that will likely be the weak layers our next snow will fall on, and the persistent weak layer at the base of the snow pack.

My first pit on NW aspect (Picture 1 & 2) showed 2x CTV (failure on isolation) (Picture 3) and ECTP21 on the PWL at the ground with bushes- the moral of this story to me is that although we have enough snow in most places to bury this PWL, all it takes is an isolated thin spot where a rock, tree, or bush is to activate this layer.

My second pit on SW aspect (Picture 4 & 5) showed the faceting layers more stable than on the previous more northerly aspect, however still produced CT results, but with no propagation.

Again, I was searching for weak layers in the snow pack today and focused on thinner locations that were unfortunately too easy to find. The overall takeaway to these observation for me is to not get lulled to sleep by this high pressure system that is in place because more snow will come, and when it does, knowing where and how active the weak layers are may be the difference.