Windslab & Windchill
16th January 2018
Not too much new snow but constant drifting today.
It’s very cold out there – Minus 5 at 900 metres – so the snow is cold and dry and is blowing easily in the fresh winds. So although we haven’t had a lot of new snow, drifting has resulted in some deep windslab accumulations in sheltered locations – Past thigh deep on the edge of the corrie where I was trying to work today. It’s unstable as well, failing easily under additional load.
Less snow forecast for tomorrow but what does arrive will also drift in the fresh to strong winds as the temperatures are set to stay low. There was a fairly significant wind chill effect today with any exposed skin becoming painful fairly quickly – spare hat and gloves are always a good idea – today was one of those days when kit can blow away quite easily…
Wind lips and deep drifts in places – this was one of the shallower ones !
Failure under additional load on a NE aspect at 950m
Blurry looking photo as everything at ground level was shifting right to left…
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