Avalanche Forecast
Jan 28th, 2019–Jan 29th, 2019
Alpine
Natural avalanches unlikely, human triggered possible.
Treeline
Natural avalanches unlikely, human triggered possible.
Below Treeline
Natural avalanches unlikely.
Alpine
Natural avalanches unlikely, human triggered possible.
Treeline
Natural avalanches unlikely, human triggered possible.
Below Treeline
Natural avalanches unlikely.
Regions
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The Bottom Line: If you are heading to the alpine, less traveled terrain, or areas with a shallow snowpack, use caution on slopes 35 degrees and steeper. Stay off of steep slopes if you see shooting cracks in the snow or experience collapses.
Snow and Avalanche Discussion
The current snow surface is a mix of supportable and breakable sun and wind crusts, crunchy styrofoam, and recycled powder. Avalanches aside, one of the main hazards out there tomorrow will be firm, icy snow. A widespread natural avalanche cycle occurred throughout the region during the storm on January 22nd and 23rd. Several large to very large avalanches were observed in the Salmon la Sac, Icicle Creek Canyon, and on Dirtyface near Lake Wenatchee. Many of these slides are suspected to have run within storm snow or on the January 3rd melt freeze crust. Check out the Regional Synopsis tab for more details on the storm and avalanche activity. Thanks for your observations, keep them coming!
Problems
Persistent Slabs
Persistent Slab avalanches are the release of a cohesive layer of snow (a slab) in the middle to upper snowpack, when the bond to an underlying persistent weak layer breaks. Persistent layers include: surface hoar, depth hoar, near-surface facets, or faceted snow. Persistent weak layers can continue to produce avalanches for days, weeks or even months, making them especially dangerous and tricky. As additional snow and wind events build a thicker slab on top of the persistent weak layer, this avalanche problem may develop into a Deep Persistent Slab.