Lawinenlagebericht

East Cabinet Mountains

Idaho Panhandle Avalanche Center
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Lawinengefahr

Sat
Hochgebirge
2 · Mässig
Waldgrenze
2 · Mässig
Unterhalb
1 · Gering
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Veraltet — dieser Lagebericht ist 5 years ago abgelaufen. Du siehst vergangene Verhältnisse, nicht den aktuellen Bericht.

Kernpunkte

Fresh snow resting on a sun crust will be the most significant avalanche concern on Friday and Saturday. When the sun comes out expect the surface snow to create small "loose-wet" avalanches in steep terrain.  Manage this problem with ease by avoiding steep terrain that is exposed to the sun or move to the north facing terrain where the good snow is ready for shreddy!

Lawinenprobleme

  • Loose Wet

    • Hochgebirge
    • Waldgrenze
    • Unterhalb der Waldgrenze
    Wahrscheinlichkeit
    Possible
    Größe
    1

    All that sunshine in Early March left us with a pretty firm crust at lower elevations and areas exposed to the sun. We now have fresh snow resting on that crust layer ranging anywhere from 5" to 20." When the sun comes out this time of year it will be packing some heat, expect locations exposed to the sun to get a little sloppy and produce small avalanches in steep aspects exposed to solar radiation. Area wide we saw some sun on Tuesday and this seems to have already cleared a fair bit of the new snow off these locations and will keep this problem small. Yesterday we observed evidence of this taking place but there still remains the potential for this issue as things warm up the next two days.

  • Wind Slabs

    • Hochgebirge
    • Waldgrenze
    • Unterhalb der Waldgrenze
    Wahrscheinlichkeit
    Possible
    Größe
    1

    Yesterday I observed small and fairly dense pockets of wind-loaded snow at treeline and above on north and east aspects. Small pockets of terrain where the snow is easily trapped into tight chutes also seemed to be harboring some dense pockets of wind slab. None of these wind slabs where very sensitive to triggers but I would definetly use some caution when poking into the upper entrance of any steep terrain feature at upper elevations. These slabs will be most prominent directly below ridge-lines and in steep chutes where the wind is blowing across the slope and loading snow into depressions.

Avalanche Discussion

April 2nd will be the last forecast we issue for this season.

But for now, lets keep an eye on this weekend. Yesterdays observations revealed some fresh snow resting on a pretty supportive base. In the East Cabinets we had anywhere from 4-8" of snow depending on your elevation. Skiing and riding on north facing terrain is pretty good for late March conditions. In the West Cabinets the Bear Mountain snotel site jumped up 20" between Saturday the 20th and Monday the 22nd. Snowfall totals in the Purcells came in pretty meager; but, that's pretty normal I guess. What I saw in stability tests revealed there is still some weakness in the snowpack associated with the January 13th rain crust but the potential for triggering this deep weak layer is extremely low. We have had numerous warm days this month and it has been multiple weeks since I have seen anything fail on these deep weak layers, despite the warm days. I am seeing some evidence of glide cracks opening up in terrain with rocky bed surfaces, this will be something to pay attention to if we get into a cycle of warm days and nights that don't drop back into the freezing mark. For now, enjoy the good snow while it lasts. Good powder in March should not be taken for granted!

 

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