Lawinenlagebericht

West Slopes Central

Northwest Avalanche Center
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Lawinengefahr

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

Kernpunkte

Another warm, sunny day means that wet avalanche activity could continue on steep, south facing slopes. If snow surfaces start getting wet or you notice rollerballs or any small slides, avoid traveling on or beneath steep slopes in the area. 

Lawinenprobleme

  • Loose Wet

    • Hochgebirge
    • Waldgrenze
    • Unterhalb der Waldgrenze
    Wahrscheinlichkeit
    Possible
    Größe
    1–2

    Slopes on the southerly half of the compass will start out crusty, but expect them to soften as the day progresses through to the early afternoon. As this is the second day of warm, sunny weather, we're not quite sure how much avalanche activity will result. If you start sinking into wet snow more than a couple inches, or if you see precursors to avalanches such as rollerballs, avoid nearby steep slopes and the terrain beneath them.  Shifting to shadier aspects, or maybe even just transitioning from one side of a subtle ridge to the other might mean the difference between finding wet, heavy snow that could slide versus snow that has not been affected by the warming.

    Despite the weak December sun, it has enough impact on southerly aspects to create at least some wet avalanche activity. Continued avalanches into Monday will vary greatly depending on inversions and other factors which could affect elevations and areas in the zone differently. However, we don't expect as much activity as springtime cycles where the sun is much more intense and wetting impacts further into the snowpack. 

    Example photo: Rollerballs are your fist indicator that wet loose avalanches could follow. 

Avalanche Discussion

A large storm cycle brought several feet of snow and ended a week ago. Neighboring west-side zones all reported resulting storm and wind slab avalanches. Since the storm ended, occasional observations keep coming in of additional new wind slab avalanches. Depending on where you are in the zone, the wind may still be blowing up high, and existing or new small wind slabs may exist. Your largest concern is triggering a slab in high consequence terrain where you might get buried deep in a gully or dragged over rocks, through trees, or over a cliff. 

I traveled to 5800' in the West Central zone on Saturday and found a surprisingly healthy snowpack for this time of year. Snowpacks above 4000ft are 3 feet or deeper, and there's predominantly one crust, well bonded to neighboring layers. Otherwise the snowpack is right side up and I didn't find any weaknesses. South-facing slopes had been slightly impacted by the sun previously, with a subtle crust and on Saturday more moistening occurred. A few small older rollerballs were present, but I didn't see any new activity. You can check my observation out HERE. 

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