West Slopes South

Problemas de aludes

• 

  Storm Slabs

  N

  NE

  E

  SE

  S

  SW

  W

  NW

  • Alta montaña
  • Límite del bosque
  • Bajo el límite del bosque

  Probabilidad

  Very Likely

  Tamaño

  2

  Above the rain/snow line, heavy snowfall and strong winds will help to overload the snowpack and trigger large to very large natural avalanches. These slides could fail on storm instabilities from this past week or at the new snow interface. Areas that are susceptible to wind-loading will have thicker and possibly more reactive slabs. We expect most avalanches to entrain significant snow, with the ability to run far distances and possibly step down to older layers in the snowpack. Even with lower hazard forecasted below treeline, slides could run down into this elevation band. Monday is not a day to be anywhere near large avalanche paths or slopes over 35 degrees.

  

• 

  Loose Wet

  N

  NE

  E

  SE

  S

  SW

  W

  NW

  • Alta montaña
  • Límite del bosque
  • Bajo el límite del bosque

  Probabilidad

  Very Likely

  Tamaño

  1–2

  Below the rain/snow line, heavy rain will continue to destabilize the snowpack in a number of ways on Monday. Some areas will have already seen rain and natural avalanches occur before daybreak, while other areas will see rain for the first time as freezing levels creep up. Just because a path has already slid, doesn't mean that it can't slide again. There are multiple crusts and layers of cold dry snow at all elevations for water to pool on and break the snowpack’s bonding. As the amount of liquid water added to the snowpack increases, you may first witness Wet Loose avalanches before later seeing slabs release at some of these layers of concern. The timing of wet avalanches is very difficult to predict and they can act in surprising ways. Although we can’t predict the exact timing, we can tell you that they will occur on Monday and you should stay out of avalanche terrain if you find rain falling on dry snow or that there is evidence of recent avalanches.

  

• 

  Deep Persistent Slabs

  N

  NE

  E

  SE

  S

  SW

  W

  NW

  • Alta montaña
  • Límite del bosque
  • Bajo el límite del bosque

  Probabilidad

  Possible

  Tamaño

  3

  Sunday night through Monday morning could be enough to tip the scales on the Mid-January crust we have been talking about for almost a month now. We don’t know of any recent avalanches on this layer in the zone, but the setup is still there and it has started to awaken further north in the Stevens Pass and the East Central zones. If the added load from this storm is enough to activate the Mid-January or even 2/11, very large and destructive avalanches could occur. These slabs could release naturally or be triggered by other avalanches stepping down to the Mid-January crust. Give all large avalanche paths a wide berth until this storm is over.