There is plenty of weak sugary faceted snow (persistent weak layer) scattered on almost all aspects and elevations throughout the Wasatch Range. This persistent weak layer has now been buried under wind drifted snow in upper elevation terrain and capped by storm snow in the lower elevation wind protected areas. As we saw from the close call outside of Spanish Fork and from this observation in Snake Creek, I would be just as cautious in steep lower elevation terrain that harbors this weak layer.

However, what varies is the slab (the snow sitting above the weak layer). In sheltered locations, this slab might only be 10-15" inches deep, and in areas where the wind has loaded the slope, the slab could be anywhere from 1-4' feet deep and hard as a rock. In any case, we have dangerous avalanche conditions, and you can still trigger a season-ending slab avalanche failing on a persistent weak layer.

Avalanches are slightly less likely on solar aspects because of the prescence of ice crusts.

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As of early this morning ski area patrol teams are reporting dry loose avalanches within the storm snow. This will be a short lived problem as new snow instabilities will settle out.

These slabs of wind drifted snow can be soft or hard. The hard wind drifted snow might be camouflaged, look for stiff hollow drum like conditions under the new snow.

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