Arthur's Pass

The storm continues through the next few days. Tomorrow morning a possible

Keep out of runout zones, including tramping terrain and valley floors.

A natural avalanche cycle is expected to have occurred during the storm.

Park user observations provide important information. Please help us.

If you see anything, please report it in the public observations section of the NZAA website.

500+ mm of rain has fallen in western areas of the Park in the last week, part of this was snow to Arthus pass village on Thursday. This has been accompanied by fluctuating freezing levels. Most areas below ~2100m will have received a snow-rain-snow combination, followed by snow falling to ~900m on Thursday. Snow totals remain to be determined once the storm concludes but the threshold for avalanches in western areas of the Park close to the divide is probably around 1500m, tapering to the east. A series of rain on snow events over the past weeks mean rain percolation channels will be well established in the snowpack below ~1800m and new channels will be forming to the highest elevations during this storm's heavy rain precipitation. Strong to gale winds from the northerly half will have formed windslabs on south- through east-facing slopes and around terrain features. The underlying snowpack was well consolidated prior to the storm and once drained is unlikely to hold deeper layers of concern for avalanche hazard.

Partly cloudy, with a few showers about the Main Divide. Winds Northwesterly 50 km/h, rising to gale 70 km/h in the evening. Freezing level 1500 metres, lowering to 1200 metres for a time in the morning.

Temple Basin is forecast to get 5cm tomorrow .

Conditions are changing. Low sliding hazard at present.

Moderate

• We are uncertain about how the timing or intensity of solar radiation will affect the snowpack.
• We are uncertain about how quickly the snowpack will recover and gain strength.