Presidential Range

Small, wet snow avalanches could occur on all steep slopes as warm temperatures and significant rain melt and destructure surface snow. Lookout for increasing boot penetration above your boot-tops in wet, mushy snow to identify this hazard. With accelerated melting due to rain, be mindful of dangerous springtime mountain hazards that include deep holes, falling ice, undermined snow, and open water.

With significant rain to fall, forecasters spent time this morning talking about the potential impact of the rain on the current snowpack. It is important to note that there is uncertainty, and that the low hazard does not reflect no hazard today. Any travel in consequential terrain will require attentive decision making, and with heavy rain and fog forecast, visibility will be obscured which will limit visual assessments. 

The snowpack has seen days of warm temperatures and rain with rain totals of 0.28 on 4/10 and 0.27 on 4/11 recorded at the summit by MWOBS. From that, a lot of water has worked its way through the snowpack, so it is likely that water has carved out channels underneath the snowpack to flow on the ground. With this space likely already existing, water may just work its way into and out of the snowpack. However, it is also possible that there will be too much water and that mini gushers may form from enough water pushing through the snowpack. This is not really an avalanche problem, and more a springtime hazard. Be wary of places that accumulate a lot of water or your classic terrain traps in tight and constricted gullies as these will be areas that will be most susceptible to water blowing out pockets of the snowpack. 

These are other spring hazards that should be on your radar today:

• Icefall and rockfall: Over the years many people have been severely injured or killed by falling ice in Tuckerman Ravine. The most hazardous locations are in the center and right side of the ravine, including Lunch Rocks, the Sluice, Lip, and Center Bowl. Warm weather and rain increase the potential for icefall to occur. Avoid spending time in high risk areas like Lunch Rocks or on the floor of the ravine in the fall line of ice in the headwall.
• Undermined snow: Meltwater flowing under the snowpack melts away the snow above, creating thin bridges of snow that can collapse. These will emerge at the tops of gullies (particularly on south-facing slopes) and in areas that have streams running, like the brook feeding the Little Headwall. The sound of running water can sometimes be heard under the snow and is a good indicator of this hazard. 
• 4/9/24 Near-miss Little Headwall: A skier was found stuck in an open water hole on Little Headwall skiing out of Tuckerman Ravine. The last few days of warm temperatures and rain will have only increased the size of holes and amount of water running underneath. The best option for leaving Tuckerman Ravine is down the Tuckerman Ravine Trail used to access the ravine. 

OBSERVATIONS: Please consider submitting an observation of what you are seeing in your travels. Submitting an observation hones your skills, informs other users, and improves our forecasts. 

Help avalanche researchers! The Colorado Avalanche Information Center, the Avalanche Research Program at Simon Fraser University, and the U.S. National Science Foundation National Center for Atmospheric Research are researching how skiers, snowmobilers, snowshoers, ice climbers, and anyone else who travels in the backcountry interpret avalanche forecast information. Completing this survey will take approximately 20 minutes. Thank you!