Lawinenlagebericht

West Slopes North

Northwest Avalanche Center
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Lawinengefahr

Thu
Hochgebirge
2 · Mässig
Waldgrenze
2 · Mässig
Unterhalb
1 · Gering
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Kernpunkte

Plan for light rain and wet snow falling throughout the day. Wet snow could make for challenging travel and loose snow avalanches. Avoid traveling on or directly under steep terrain where the snow is thick and wet. If you make the climb to upper elevations, identify and avoid steep slopes loaded up with wind-drifted snow. 

Lawinenprobleme

  • Wind Slabs

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

    Snowfall and some wind could build another round of fresh slabs. You might find the most wind transport and more extensive slab formation farther east in the zone where temperatures are usually a touch cooler. In other areas,  warm temperatures might make for sticky snow and limit the amount of snow available to drift.

    Warm temperatures can also take much of the life out of recently formed wind slabs at mid-elevations - and maybe at upper elevations as well. On the other hand, wind slabs over the crust-facet combination found in many areas could stay reactive longer than usual.

    Blowing snow and fresh drifts point the way toward the slopes that are actively loading. You’ll also need to hunt down deeper, older wind-loaded areas. Scoured slopes and larger wind  drifted features can help you find these spots. You can also track the snow depth over the thick Early February Crust to figure out which areas are more or less wind-loaded.

    Fresh cornices are indicators of the local wind loading pattern.

    Photo: Shane Robinson

  • Loose Wet

    • Hochgebirge
    • Waldgrenze
    • Unterhalb der Waldgrenze
    Wahrscheinlichkeit
    Possible
    Größe
    1–1.5

    Rain and wet snow falling on Tuesday - and more on the way - mean the upper snowpack is becoming quite wet. An observer in the Baker BC reported fresh rollerballs and 4-8” of wet snow with 12” of drier snow below.  

    Naturally triggered wet avalanches are not guaranteed, but it’s worth keeping an eye out for signs of wet avalanche instability like rollerballs and pinwheels. If you get onto a steep enough slope and push hard enough you will likely get some amount of wet, gooey snow moving down the hill. You might even see a wet loose avalanche trigger a slab lower on the slope.

    Steep, rocky terrain is where wet avalanches often initiate.

    Photo: Zack McGill - Cascade Mountain Ascents

Avalanche Discussion

After a steady stream of avalanche observations over the weekend, no new avalanches were reported on Monday. A period of moderate rainfall around noon was followed by a few inches of wet new snow with 1-2” piling up at 5000’. Soggy was the best way to summarize conditions.

The thick rain curst buried in early February can be found anywhere from at the surface to 2' down depending on elevation, aspect, and exposure to sun and wind. Weak, faceted snow was found above the crust over in the past few weeks, but has generally been observed as rounding and gaining strength. It’s uncertain if human-triggered avalanches over the weekend in West North were related to these layers. Either way, it’s worth keeping on the radar as we head into more stable weather later in the week. 

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