Natural wind slabs on Peets Hill
On the summit of Peets Hill we saw a fresh natural wind slab avalanche, around 1130 this morning. West aspect, 5055’ elevation. Relatively harmless to a cat or small dog C1, R2. We also saw similar slides on a slope lower on the hill. Photos attached.
Cold east winds were forming drifts on top of old drifts from previous east wind events. In some spots these old drifts have made the slope steeper than the usual slope of the ground below, essentially creating new/temporary avalanche start zones. The avalanche potential size is currently small, but with the right amount of snow, and probably east wind, there is potential for avalanches that could be large enough to bury or injure a cat (C2) or even a large dog (C3).
In some places my paws punched through into weak sugary snow below, so with big storm or loading event there might be potential for a persistent slab that could hurt a human in a few areas where slopes are steeper than 30 degrees.
HS was shoulder deep on a small border collie where not drifted. There were some old ski tracks as well which looked like more fun to trench through than just walking on the trail.