Lawinenlagebericht

West Slopes South

Northwest Avalanche Center
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Lawinengefahr

Wed
Hochgebirge
2 · Mässig
Waldgrenze
2 · Mässig
Unterhalb
1 · Gering
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Veraltet — dieser Lagebericht ist 5 years ago abgelaufen. Du siehst vergangene Verhältnisse, nicht den aktuellen Bericht.

Kernpunkte

While this storm didn’t bring a lot of new snow to the West South zone, there’s enough to create some hazard at mid and upper elevations. You may trigger small avalanches in wind drifted snow and on steep slopes receiving strong sunshine. Don't let these small slides catch you off guard in high consequence terrain. 

Lawinenprobleme

  • Wind Slabs

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

    At mid and upper elevations, you may find the wind drifted the new snow into slightly deeper slabs on lee sides of ridge and gullies. While these potential avalanches should remain relatively small, they could trigger easily and slide quickly on the firm crust underneath. Look for wind textured surfaces, small sharp cornices, and smooth pillow-like drifts to determine which slopes could hold possible wind slabs. Be leery of steep wind-loaded terrain especially above cliffs, rocks, and gullies where even a small slide could harm you.

    (12/10/2021)

    Example: Wind features can help you anticipate possible wind slabs as you travel. 

    Photo: Dallas Glass

  • Loose Wet

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

    It won’t take much sunshine on Tuesday to cause the new snow to get wet and sticky and start to roll downhill. When the skies start to clear anticipate small natural loose wet avalanches on steep sunny slopes. While the modest amount of new snow should help limit the size of these slides, they may run quite far over the underlying crust. When you start to see new rollerballs or the snow shedding from trees and rocks, expect loose wet avalanches to follow on similar slopes.

    (2/5/2022)

    Example: Recent snow becoming wet and sticky in the sunshine after a storm on Jan 30.  

    Photo: Dallas Glass

Avalanche Discussion

Storm totals around the West South zone aren’t that impressive as of Monday afternoon. Generally, 3-5” of snow fell across the zone with slightly more at upper elevations. This storm came with cooling temperatures and moderate to strong SW winds. 

The new snow fell on a wide variety of surfaces. Prior to the storm icy slopes, rough crusts, and frozen wind-textured snow were all reported. Many exposed rocks, stumps, and creeks reemerged during the recent warm and sunny weather. This little bit of snow, probably won’t appreciably change the travel conditions and hazards. Make sure you’re ready to deal with slick slopes and shallowly buried objects as you travel. 

While you can find potential weak layers deeper (mid-January crust-facets) in the snowpack, we expect any avalanche issues to stay above the most recent surface crust. This Valentines Day crust should be strong and thick. At least for the moment, this should make it easy to track snowpack conditions near and above this shallowly buried interface.

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