Below the Maelstrom

Checked out a windy part of the forecast region to see the effects of the past 2 days' powerful winds and check the distribution of buried persistent weak layers.

• We found a melt-freeze crust up to about 6000 feet. This was probably the crust that formed between the Solstice and Christmas. This layer produced no signs of instability except for propagation with hard force in a large column test. The break occurred right above the crust, on a thin, indistinct weak layer. We found the 11/19 interface buried ~110 cm below the surface at 6400 feet; it did not propagate in tests.
• Recent gusty southwesterly winds have had pronounced effects on the snow cover in the area. Many windward slopes have been stripped clean of snow, including southeasterly slopes at the base of Elk Mountain. Many leeward slopes (north-northeast-east) near ridges are covered with dense, polished drifts and dunes.
• We found slabs and cornices 4-24" thick on mid-elevation terrain features. Most did not fail under a person's weight; the exceptions produced small slab avalanches that didn't involve much snow downslope of the lip of the drift/ cornices.
• Winds were gusty but moderate mid-day. By mid afternoon, they became strong and sustained, and we saw continuous blowing snow near ridgelines. It didn't appear wind slabs were growing larger or more widespread, due to the lack of snow in windward fetches and only a few inches of new snow where there was snow cover. 
• Snow surfaces remained soft in sheltered, mid elevation terrain.
• We did not see any recent crowns in the small sections of the Flathead Range that's visible from Highway 2, even with binoculars.