1 Feb - AST and snow

Once again I was out on the field day of an AST Level 1 class and would otherwise have something more to add, however the raging storm kept us low and distant from the action today. This turned out to be a good thing as when I came home we had received 43cm of snow in 11 hours during the day, with winds that had picked up enough to shut many lifts. The winds for most for the day were from the south west, which is unusual, and the water content in the new snow is higher than normal (and normal is already high water content in Hakuba). During the night, temps dropped to -11C then within a few hours rose again to -6C. So there will possibly be some variable density in the storm snow independent of the wind effect. Today's AST field session was a little limited due to conditions, however it was one of the better chances I have had to help some enthusiastic people open the backcountry door.

Based on the 850mb chart, next Monday has a sudden spike in temps forecast with freezing level rising to perhaps 1400m or so.

Perhaps look out for an updated Japan Avalanche Network avalanche advisory tomorrow morning (Thursday).