Lawinenlagebericht

West Slopes North

Northwest Avalanche Center
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Lawinengefahr

Fri
Hochgebirge
2 · Mässig
Waldgrenze
1 · Gering
Unterhalb
1 · Gering
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Veraltet — dieser Lagebericht ist 6 months ago abgelaufen. Du siehst vergangene Verhältnisse, nicht den aktuellen Bericht.

Kernpunkte

Avalanche danger is decreasing and mainly limited to wind-affected snow in exposed terrain. Use visual clues like surface texture to avoid triggering thicker deposits 6 inches or deeper on steep, unsupported slopes.

Lawinenprobleme

  • Wind Slabs

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

    Your risk of triggering a generally small slab continues to decrease as these deposits gain strength. 6-8" of new snow accumulated Monday through early Tuesday and these slabs are now stubborn to trigger. Upper elevation terrain has variable degrees of wind affected snow. Stiffened snow has the potential to release as a slab on or above the 2/7 crust on steep, poorly supported slopes or in extreme terrain. In areas where you find less than 6" of snow above the 2/7 crust or don't find wind-affected snow, the avalanche danger is minimal.

    Example: Rippled snow surfaces that indicate wind transport.

    Photo: Payton Schiff

Avalanche Discussion

Sunny skies provided ideal conditions and generally light wind provided opportunities for folks to get into the alpine on both Tuesday and Wednesday. We're expecting fair weather Thursday morning, but expect cooler and cloudier conditions later in the day ahead of the next storm.

Observers continued to experience excellent riding conditions with 6-8" of snow above the 2/7 crust on all aspects at upper elevations. Observers on the White Salmon Glacier encountered slightly more wind-textured snow on Wednesday relative to Tuesday. This lower density snow overlies a 1/2" rime crust at upper elevations with 8" of older denser snow above the 2/7 rain crust down 22" at 6400 ft. Below 5000 ft, the recent 6-8" of storm snow sits directly on the 2/7 crust at lower elevations. Similar conditions existed on the south side of Mt Baker with mild wind-affect on the Squak Glacier. A rime crust was not observed here and the 2/7 crust disappeared around 6500 ft.

Day-old wet loose avalanche activity up to size 2 (large) was reported on Sefrit. Small, day-old wet loose avalanches were also reported in sun-exposed terrain on the south side of Baker.

You may continue to expect significant variation in snow totals throughout the zone.  The more significant slug of moisture on Saturday brought 2" of precipitation to Heather Meadows and Elbow Lake, while many other stations saw only half to a quarter of that. Farther east and colder sites, such as Park Creek Ridge (4610 feet), recorded less precipitation—around 0.75 inches—but more new snow than warmer sites farther west. Elevation also played a role. The Brown Top SNOTEL near the Canadian border (5840 feet) has a base depth well over 100 inches and picked up about five inches of new snow in the last storm, despite typically being drier. 

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