Lawinenlagebericht

Swan Range

Flathead Avalanche Center
Auf der Karte ansehen

Lawinengefahr

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

Kernpunkte

New snow and recently drifted snow have developed dangerous avalanche conditions.  Soft slabs 1-2 feet thick will be reactive to the weight of a skier or snowmachine.  Lower your risk by giving steep slopes plenty of room.  Avalanches that fail today could be larger than you anticipate.

Lawinenprobleme

  • Storm Slabs

    • Hochgebirge
    • Waldgrenze
    • Unterhalb der Waldgrenze
    Wahrscheinlichkeit
    Likely
    Größe
    1–2

    Freshly fallen and wind-drifted snow will remain sensitive to a skier or snowmachiner. Yesterday (Tuesday), remotely triggered avalanches large enough to bury and injure a person occurred in the Swan Range (observation). Winds formed harder and thicker slabs along ridgelines.  Cracking in the snow around you or whumpfing sounds are clues you’ve found unstable snow.  Retreat to lower-angle slopes if you notice these signs.

    Remember, all the new snow in the last 48 hours has fallen on a faceted crust from early February.  Any slab that fails on this layer will likely extend much further than expected.  

    Shooting cracks like this are bulls eye clues that you've found unstable snow.  retreat to lower angle terrain to mitigate this problem.

    (2/12/2024)

    Photo: blase reardon

Avalanche Discussion

Skunked, kind of.  While we all were hoping to wake up this morning and find weather stations reporting another foot of snow overnight, the faucet was turned off.   24-hour snowfall totals in the Whitefish range reported 3-9 inches, the Flathead range saw 4-7 inches and Noisey Basin received 6 inches.  These numbers account for recent snowpack settlement, so storm totals are likely much greater.  The storm put down an impressive total of 2.7 inches of water at Noisy Basin and 1.7 inches at Stahl Peak. 

The problem today encapsulates many things.  Winds have thickened slabs and drifted snow along ridgelines.  Over a foot of snow has fallen in the last 48 hours in sheltered terrain.  This new snow fell on facets above a very thick crust from early February.  There is complexity today as the snowpack adjusts to the recent loading.

Confidence is high that all aspects and elevations in the forecast area were affected by unseasonably warm weather in late January.  Several inches of light snow then fell making travel difficult and sluffing snow a problem.  This problematic soft snow faceted above the crust.  Now, today, it's buried by 1 to 2 feet of recent snow.  Avalanches that fail at this interface may extend around terrain features and be triggered from further away.

 

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