Before yesterday we believed we had beaten the dead horse named “persistent weak layer” enough. But with yesterday’s snow forecast suggesting that a foot of snow could be possible, we thought we might be hearing it’s faint whinnying again from down-under. Alas, the storm stayed mostly north, and the minimal new snow load that we got was barely enough to awaken a mouse, let alone some buried facets.
There is still weak snow buried in many places. While pit-tests will likely continue to show that it has potential to fail, an actual persistent slab avalanche is very unlikely without a significant new load of snow to offset the snowpack’s balance. That being said, it is not impossible that an isolated wind-loaded area exists where a buried weak layer could be triggered. It's always important to practice safe travel protocols just in case. We will keep monitoring it, with hopes that a new heavy load will come before too long!