Gunnison
AvalancheEric Murrow Evan Ross · Feb 6, 2020 · Gunnison
Weather
Moderate northwesterly winds and blowing snow in all exposed terrain. Snowing S1 to S2 all day. HST was 11" at 3pm with .48SWE
Snowpack
Impressive very light new snow, definitely representing the definition of blower. Interestingly, even many of the wind-loaded terrain features, where the feathers had been tossed about on there journey to that resting place, were just as low density. So more of a sluffing avalanche problem was encountered and more often than expected. We did find some very soft slabs on other wind-loaded terrain features were we were able to pop a few very small Wind Slabs. These were running both in the new snow, and some down to the 2/4 interface. This will all change with the continued wind and forecasted snow. Conditions were still blower in the afternoon, but the top 6-8" of feathery precipitation particles were just starting to crack and buckle as small Storm Slabs releasing on smaller precipitation particles below. One of these Storm Slabs initiated off a skier triggered sluff and propagated surprisingly far on a south-facing slope. Conditions sure will get interesting tomorrow.
Avalanche
Skier triggered a few very small Wind Slabs with crowns up to 35cm. Also a couple very small Storm Slabs in the late afternoon failing within the recent snow.