Lawinenlagebericht

West Slopes South

Northwest Avalanche Center
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Lawinengefahr

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

Kernpunkte

Both sunny and windy weather could create small pockets of unstable snow. Since these slides should stay rather small, pay attention to the consequences of each slope Don’t let a small avalanche push you over a cliff or into a creek.

Lawinenprobleme

  • Wind Slabs

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

    As winds increase on Saturday, there’s plenty of snow to blow around. This could build a fresh batch of small wind slabs throughout the day. Blowing snow, textured surfaces, and sharp drifts will all point toward potentially loaded slopes. Look for firmer pillow-like slabs you may want to avoid. 

    These wind slabs won’t be everywhere. You’re most likely to find them along exposed ridges and near the base of cliffs. Elsewhere in the terrain you may see signs of wind drifting snow, but it won’t likely present much of a hazard. 

    (12/8/2023)

    Example: Snow blown out of the windward side of trees and sharp drifts are great ways to anticipate wind-loaded slopes. 

    Photo: Dallas Glass

  • Loose Wet

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

    Sunny skies, particularly in the morning, could cause the surface to become unstable. This could take lots of shapes and forms. The most classic will be snow shedding from trees/rocks, rollerballs, and possibly wet loose avalanches. Pay attention to the terrain above you. Rocky slopes may warm, even while you’re shivering down in the shade. 

    On some slopes, you may see the sun settle the cold dry snow into a shallow slab. If you start to notice cracking or the snow failing in blocks be leery of nearby steep slopes. 

    In both cases, these slides may run on the stout underlying crust allowing them to entrain snow and run easily downhill. Don’t get surprised by any of these possible avalanches in higher consequence terrain.

    (12/31/2023)

    Example: You could see rollerballs and small wet loose slides as snow sheds from rocks and trees. 

    Photo: Dallas Glass

Avalanche Discussion

Saturday looks like a beautiful, albeit windy, day in the mountains. After a rather cold, snowy, and calm week, this will be a bit of change for the upper snowpack. If the skies become cloudier than expected, conditions may not grow quite as hazardous. 

Observations around the forecast zone show that most locations hold between 8 and 12 inches (20-30cm) of snow over the Early February Crust (EFC). The recent snow is generally right-side-up and poorly bonded to the very slick and firm layer beneath. On Friday, a thin sun crust may have formed on a few slopes. If this occurred, it could curtail the impact of the sun and the wet loose problem on those aspects. At the moment, the EFC is so thick and burly that we aren’t worried about avalanches failing on any lingering weak layers deeper in the snowpack. 

Reports unanimously conclude the recent snow greatly improved travel conditions, especially in lower-angled terrain. However, you can still feel the effects of the last rain event. Thin coverage at lower elevations, open creeks, holes, and piles of avalanche debris all continue to make travel trickier than normal. 

If you plan to use the nicer weather to push higher in the terrain onto some of the bigger peaks and volcanoes, you may find more snow, bigger avalanches, and higher danger.

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