Hatcher Pass

Lawinenprobleme

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  Deep Persistent Slabs

  N

  NE

  E

  SE

  S

  SW

  W

  NW

  • Hochgebirge
  • Waldgrenze
  • Unterhalb der Waldgrenze

  Wahrscheinlichkeit

  Very Likely

  Größe

  2–3

  Staggering amounts of snow and water are overloading the existing weak snowpack and creating very large natural avalanches and widespread high hazard. 

  Today, natural avalanches remain likely. and human triggered avalanches will be very likely. 

  Expect avalanches to be larger and to have the potential to run further into valley bottoms and cross the road again today.

  The numbers are historic. As of 4am it's looking like we've picked up about 47'' of snow and 10'' of SWE at IM since Wednesday 1/22. It's hard to believe, but before this storm our snowpack was still relatively shallow and faceted with a growing persistent slab problem. That's all changed now. All of this new snow and weight is burying these weak layers under feet of new snow. If the faceted layers arent being crushed they're probably being wiped out by large natural avalanches, but this isn't really the time to nerd out on weak layers and tap tests. The situation is clear, huge amounts of new snow and water are creating deep slab instabilities and very large, unsurvivable avalanches. 

  Today is not a day to be in the mountains. Travel in avalanche terrain is not recommended. 

  

• 

  Storm Slabs

  N

  NE

  E

  SE

  S

  SW

  W

  NW

  • Hochgebirge
  • Waldgrenze
  • Unterhalb der Waldgrenze

  Wahrscheinlichkeit

  Likely

  Größe

  1–2

  If weak layers in the snowpack weren't an issue, all this new snow still is. With continued snow over the last 24 hours, expect storm slabs over 2' thick to be likely to human trigger on all aspects at all elevations above 2500'. Storm slabs will be thicker at upper elevation where more snow has been deposited. Avalanche paths that have run naturally could easily reload and run again as a type of storm slab. The biggest concern remains storm slab activity stepping down and effecting persistent weak layers. 

  WIND SLAB: Winds picked up late Friday and have remained elevated since. For the last 30+ hrs winds on Hatch have been sustained in the 30's gusting 50's out of the SE. Strong winds will continue to contribute to drifting, loading, and poor visibility at upper elevations. Wind slabs will vary in strength and size but the biggest concern is for these new snow problems to effect deeper instabilities in the snowpack. 

  WET AVALANCHES: Below about 2500' much of the precipitation we've received has been in the form of rain. While at this point the snowpack has likely created drain channels for all this new water, the free water in the snowpack, running water on frozen ground, and general rain on snow will contribute to wet snow instabilites. Below the rain line, expect snow to be punchy, isothermic, and create incredibly difficult travel conditions. We've got one more day of warm weather on tap before things start to cool off.