Lawinenlagebericht

West Slopes Central

Northwest Avalanche Center
Auf der Karte ansehen

Lawinengefahr

Mon
Hochgebirge
2 · Mässig
Waldgrenze
2 · Mässig
Unterhalb
1 · Gering
Open full map
Veraltet — dieser Lagebericht ist 4 years ago abgelaufen. Du siehst vergangene Verhältnisse, nicht den aktuellen Bericht.

Kernpunkte

Keep an eye out for precariously hanging blocks of snow near ridgelines or rocky ledges that could produce a large avalanche on Sunday. If you spot one, give it a wide berth by not traveling on or below it. After big rain events, there’s always a bit of uncertainty around both avalanches and travel conditions, so make plans that give you plenty of terrain options.

Lawinenprobleme

  • Glide Cracks

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

    Wet avalanches will continue to be a concern on Sunday, despite the cooling temperatures and perhaps a dusting of snow. Liquid water can linger in the snowpack and produce avalanches for days after it has stopped raining. Keep an eye out for large crevasse-like cracks, hanging blocks of snow, or sagging cornices that could release unexpectedly and produce a large avalanche. These avalanches are unpredictable, so your best mitigation tool is to recognize the terrain where they are more likely and give it a wide berth.

    (1/14/2023) Glide cracks and large, saggy cornices. Photo: Irene Henninger

Avalanche Discussion

On Saturday, NWAC forecasters visited the Deer Creek area off the Mountain Loop to take stock of conditions post-atmospheric river event. They found that surfaces are starting to firm up as temperatures cool and liquid precipitation tapers. A ski-supportable melt-freeze crust was found up to 5000’ in elevation, with minimal concerns for new avalanches apart from lingering Glides and possible cornice failures. They also noted several recent wet avalanches had occurred during the rainy weather up to size D2.

On Sunday, a fairly benign weather day awaits in the West Central zone. You could experience some gusty winds and a few dribs and drabs of precipitation, but generally speaking there will not be much in the way of weather inputs. This should help the snowpack continue to adjust to the recent liquid water. If you take advantage of this relative break in the weather to travel to the highest elevations, be prepared to find drastically different conditions, with potentially several feet of snow and the potential for some slab avalanches. Elsewhere, wet punchy snow, breakable or firm crusts, swollen creeks, runneled "humps", exposed natural hazards, and refrozen avalanche debris could all present different hazards as you travel. If you’re out and about, please send us some pictures of what you’re seeing by submitting an observation.

Abgedeckte Regionen