Weak sugary, faceted snow from late October still lurks near the ground at upper elevations on some shady northerly facing slopes. Although gradually becoming unlikely for a person to trigger, large, destructive, and very dangerous avalanches are still possible where this poor snow structure exists. Dangerous avalanches on some slopes still might be triggered remotely, from a distance, or below! It looks like a few of the large natural avalanches from the weekend failed on a layer of smaller grained sugary or faceted snow that formed above the Thanksgiving storm snow.

With an eye on the future, we are monitoring persistent weak layers as they develop on the snow surface. High pressure conditions with cold clear nights is causing the nice surface snow to rapidly become weak and sugary or faceted on slopes at all elevations, and pretty feathers of surface hoar adorn the surface in many areas.