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Friday, Feb. 7 to Friday, Feb. 14.
This week on As the World Terns:
The stable riding conditions from last week became touchy as we entered the weekend upon the bank of an atmospheric river. Although the flow was concentrated well to the south of the advisory area, Noisy Basin Snotel still picked up over 2 inches of SWE Friday-Saturday and parts of the Swan and Flathead ranges saw over a foot of snow. Moderate winds from the Southwest (and at times the North) accompanied the weekend precipitation. The early February crusts that had capped previous instabilities became an excellent bed surface for Loose/Dry, Storm Slab and Wind Slab. On Saturday, several parties reported slides of each variety including a couple close calls. Some of these avalanches failed 1-3 feet deep and were big enough to bury a rider. The weekend instabilities waned during Monday’s break in the weather, however, this was short-lived as Tuesday’s gusty winds and up to 10 inches of snow ushered in a new crop of Wind Slab. Again, a brief period of Northerly winds spread this instability to atypical aspects although observers found these to be less problematic than those produced by the sustained Southwest winds. Scattered snow showered continued through Wednesday. A weak high pressure ridge brought us some sun and warmer temperatures on Thursday along with Loose/Wet instabilities in the recent snow.
FAC intern Rob Millsbaugh
