Lawinenlagebericht

West Slopes Central

Northwest Avalanche Center
Auf der Karte ansehen

Lawinengefahr

Thu
Hochgebirge
3 · Erheblich
Waldgrenze
3 · Erheblich
Unterhalb
2 · Mässig
Open full map
Veraltet — dieser Lagebericht ist 3 years ago abgelaufen. Du siehst vergangene Verhältnisse, nicht den aktuellen Bericht.

Kernpunkte

Over half an inch of rain is forecasted to fall Wednesday onto an already wet snowpack. Uncertainty exists as to how much the avalanche activity will increase, as many avalanches have already happened. While it's raining and just after, avoid traveling on or below big, steep slopes, cornices, cliffs, or any snow-covered rocky terrain.

Lawinenprobleme

  • Glide Cracks

    • Hochgebirge
    • Waldgrenze
    • Unterhalb der Waldgrenze
    Wahrscheinlichkeit
    Likely
    Größe
    2–3

    Glide avalanches, wet slabs, cornice failures are all on the table. Slopes that haven't yet failed since the warmup on Friday and the subsequent 4 inches of rain may fail as more rain falls on Wednesday. That being said, a lot of avalanche activity has already occurred with initial and subsequent wetting, so we don't suspect a lot of natural avalanche activity to take place.

    All forms of wet avalanches, aside from wet loose, are highly unpredictable. Even if natural avalanches are not likely, it's still hard to tell when and where they'll fail, so stack the odds in your favor and avoid steep terrain and traveling below suspect slopes while it's raining and just after. The same goes for human-triggered avalanches, but it's just not a day to be out in the steeps.  There's a good chance that any slides that come down won't be inconsequential. You can expect large to very large avalanches, with thick, heavy, wet, chunky snow and it'll probably kill you if you're caught.  

Avalanche Discussion

Monday was mild-some might say hot-and we had a break from the rain. On Tuesday, we only had small rain showers. Since Friday, temperatures have been above freezing at 5000ft. We are at the point where the natural avalanche cycle is transitioning to what’s informally known as the “shed" - a prolonged period where glide avalanches, wet slabs, and cornices occasionally fall off the mountain with no particular rhyme or reason.  Warm temperatures and occasional rain showers will continue to weaken the bonds holding these unsupported features in place. 

Neighboring zones have all reported avalanche activity since Friday. Large, wet natural avalanches were reported, mainly failing closer to the start of the warmup in both the West North and Stevens Pass zones. On Tuesday, Stevens Pass Ski Area used large explosives to produce large and very large avalanches that broke into older, deeper weak layers that have been lingering in the snowpack since late December. Their snowpack is not identical to ours, but there may be some similarities. 

We've had major snow losses in the last few days, which is especially noticeable at lower elevations where creeks are swollen, eating up the adjacent snow and bare patches are abundant. I investigated the south side of the Mountain Loop Highway on Monday and was surprised to be able to drive to over 2000ft, as last week snow was down to the highway. Mountainsides looked shockingly bare for late January. Many glide cracks and some slab avalanches were visible on distant mountains, indicating similar amounts of avalanche activity to neighboring zones in the last several days. 

Abgedeckte Regionen