Lawinenlagebericht

Lawinenlagebericht

Payette Avalanche Center
Auf der Karte ansehen

Lawinengefahr

Hochgebirge
3 · Erheblich
Waldgrenze
3 · Erheblich
Unterhalb
3 · Erheblich
Veraltet — dieser Lagebericht ist 4 years ago abgelaufen. Du siehst vergangene Verhältnisse, nicht den aktuellen Bericht.

Kernpunkte

Natural and human-triggered wet, loose avalanches will be possible on all slopes over 30 degrees. Dense wind slabs may also be sensitive to the weight of a skier or snowmobile in the upper elevations near ridgetops.  Unseasonably warm temperatures combined with high elevation rain earlier this week have made our snowpack a wet mess.  Now is a good time to avoid any terrain steep enough to slide, gullies and creek bottoms should be avoided.  Avoid traveling under avalanche paths and do not ride or ski above other members of your party on steep slopes.

Lawinenprobleme

  • Loose Wet

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

    Temps remained well above freezing across the advisory area last night and with an already saturated upper snowpack wet loose activity will be occurring naturally and will be easily initiated by skiers or snowmobilers today.  Most of these will be confined to the upper snowpack above the Valentine's weekend crust/new snow interface.  In some places where this crust was thin or did not exist, the wet loose activity is deeper and more slab-like and could fail down to older layers below.  Widespread whumphing or collapsing of the snowpack has been observed as the crust failed into faceted layers below.  Wet, loose activity has been reported in all elevations, those traveling in lower elevation river canyons or steep drainages should be extremely cautious as large avalanches are more likely in these areas and may entrain rocks, trees, and other debris.

    Wet avalanche debris near Yellowpine, ID. Reported by Perpetua staff on the Stibnite Road.

  • Wind Slabs

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

    The storm that came in Sunday was warm and deposited several inches of new snow.  Winds accompanied the storm and created dense wind slabs that have been failing naturally and under the weight of skiers and snowmobilers this week.  In some areas, these wind slabs may be resting on a crust or old wind-scoured snow below. Weak layers also existed in the snowpack prior to the rain event that reached up close to 8000 feet and some of these slabs may fail on layers of faceted snow below the new snow.  Caution should be used near ridgetops, or in wind-loaded areas. 

    Natural wind slab reported yesterday(3/2/22) by Payette Powder Guides near the Lick Creek Yurts.

Avalanche Discussion

Our snowpack has been under a lot of stress this week.  You could almost describe the changes that have occurred in our weather and snowpack as a complete 180 flip.  Last week we were seeing temps in the single digits and below 0, this week we have had high elevation rain and temperatures in the high 30's and even over 40 degrees.  The snowpack doesn't like rapid change and it doesn't get much more rapid than what we have seen this week. Our snowpack is weak and overloaded and is harboring several weak layers and crusts. Variability was widespread before the warmup and should give you yet another reason to play it safe in the backcountry.  Red flags are waving right now;  whumphing/collapsing of the snowpack is widespread, natural avalanches are occurring, crusts and other weak layers are lurking in the snowpack, and we just experienced a rapid warm-up with high elevation rain... this is Avalanche 101 basic information, don't ignore it.