Weekly recap video.
Weekly Recap
Friday 2/14/20 - Thursday 2/20/20
This week on As the World Terns:
Much of the advisory area got snubbed on Valentine’s day as snow accumulation fell well short of expectations. Instead we were treated to moderate southwest winds which continued to grow cornice and dovetailed new drifts with the old. Although the available snow for transport was limited by the 2/13 melt-freeze crust, windloading was significant enough for observers to note cracking and small avalanches. Snowfall remained spotty, though intense at times, and winds tapered as we entered the workweek. Storm snow fell on a variety of surfaces including loose dry snow, rime crust, windboard, and wind slabs. As winds became calm, a few inches of new snow covered the recently formed windslabs making them more difficult to delineate. Instabilities near the surface were quick to heal as high pressure settled in midweek. However, we continued to caution against fragile cornice particularly where these had the capacity to trigger deep slab avalanches. Cornice fall remained a concern as clear weather brought mountain temperatures ranging from single digits at night to near freezing in the day. We anticipated warming temperatures and direct sunlight to destabilize the snow surface, however, increasing southwest winds limited activity by cooling solar aspects.
