Lawinenlagebericht

West Slopes Central

Northwest 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 2 years ago abgelaufen. Du siehst vergangene Verhältnisse, nicht den aktuellen Bericht.

Kernpunkte

Wet avalanche concerns remain since temperatures aren't cooling and cloud cover is keeping heat trapped in the atmosphere. There's a low likelihood that you'll trigger an avalanche or a large natural avalanche comes down from above, but there's a high consequence if you get caught in one. Steer around gaping glide cracks and large cornices, and don't linger on slopes beneath them. 

Lawinenprobleme

  • Glide Cracks

    • Hochgebirge
    • Waldgrenze
    • Unterhalb der Waldgrenze
    Wahrscheinlichkeit
    Possible
    Größe
    1.5–2.5

    The rapid warming produced wet loose avalanches, a few wet slabs, and then glide avalanches and cornice failures occurred, which produced subsequent avalanches. Large rollerballs and continued wet loose activity were reported in the West Central zone on Sunday. I saw new wet avalanche debris in the Highway 2 corridor on Thursday, which occurred in the last 48 hours. This was on a north-facing slope, and since we've gotten cloud cover we suspect more avalanche activity is happening on northerly aspects than was the case with clear skies. 

    Surface freezes on Wednesday night weren't as good as Tuesday night, since temperatures were slightly warmer and cloud cover trapped heat. A minimal freeze is expected for Friday. Without a surface crust, you could still trigger small wet loose avalanches. If you're sinking into soft wet snow stay away from steep slopes.  Glide avalanches may fail up to a few days after a warming event, so continue to avoid terrain beneath large glide cracks, or travel through the area quickly. The same goes for large, saggy cornices. 

    Lower elevations are already so impacted by melting and have likely already fully run their course with wet snow avalanche problems. 

    (3/21/2024)

    New wet avalanche activity on a north-facing slope at about 4500ft in the Highway 2 corridor. This happened in the previous 48 hours, after the large warming, but as the clouds created more of a greenhousing effect, with more moistenting on the northerly aspects. 

    Photo: Irene Henninger

Avalanche Discussion

Freezing levels will rise to 5500ft on Friday. Thicker cloud cover is expected, so there could be a good amount of moistening on all aspects.  Temperatures will finally cool a little into Saturday, and we should be getting some snow. 

Snowlines are rapidly receding in the zone. You'll have to go well above 3000ft to start finding consistent snow cover. Many holes are sneakily hidden beneath a thin layer of snow.

If you get out, please share your observations with us and the local backcountry community. This is even more valuable now that we're getting into the spring and folks are making their way to more distant objectives in the longer daylight hours. Sharing details from areas that are less frequently traveled is so beneficial to the community and the forecast for the zone. 

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