Hello and good morning, this is Toby Weed
of the
Mountain Weather:
Well, it's a little warmer this morning, at
least compared to what we've seen for the past week. The temperature rose
into the upper single digits at the Campbell Scientific weather station on
Current Conditions:
Considering the lack of significant new
snow, you can still find remarkably good conditions on lots of slopes in the
Avalanche Conditions:
The couple inches of light snow from last night won't be enough to change the avalanche conditions much. Avalanches are still unlikely today in the backcountry. But you might find a freshly formed wind-drift or two in exposed terrain, especially at high elevations. As snowfall intensifies this afternoon and overnight, the avalanche danger will rise somewhat. By tomorrow, you might be able to trigger avalanches on some steep wind-drifted slopes, especially if the wind picks up before then.
The avalanche conditions could get real interesting the next time we are hit by a significant storm. The potential for a lingering problem with persistent weak layers is serious. This weekend's light new snow is falling on and effectively preserving weak snow, transformed on the surface during the recent cold, clear weather. Suspect weak frost crystals or surface hoar platelets are blanketed by an angry inch of light cold powder. I've also found developing weak layers within the existing snowpack. Buried sugary weak layers formed or were further weakened by the cold temperatures, especially on slopes with shallow snow-cover. The shallow snow has rotted out, and I can find very little structure or layering on slopes with less than about 3', where large-grained sugary snow or depth hoar has formed.
Bottom Line:
There's a LOW avalanche danger in the backcountry today. Avalanches are unlikely, with isolated exceptions on some wind-drifted slopes steeper than about 35 degrees. The danger of fresh wind-drift avalanches on steep slopes above 8000' facing north through southeast could increase to MODERATE by tomorrow.
General Information:
For a list of our upcoming classes and awareness talks, go to our education page
Snow nerds, check out the new Snow Profiles page.
Please send backcountry observations to [email protected], especially if you see or trigger an avalanche in the backcountry.
This advisory will expire on Monday morning. I will update again on Tuesday night.
The information in this advisory is from the U.S. Forest Service, which is solely responsible for its content. This advisory describes general avalanche conditions and local variations always occur.
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