Avalanche forecast

Soldier & Wood River Valley Mtns

Sawtooth Avalanche Center
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Avalanche danger

Tue
Alpine
2 · Moderate
Treeline
1 · Low
Below
1 · Low
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Highlights

The combination of new snow and very strong winds will build slabs of wind-drifted snow. Though small, these slabs may be sensitive to your weight. Drifts will form in atypical locations due to the strength of the wind.

The Avalanche Danger is greatest in the western portion of this zone, from the Dollarhide area west to the Soldiers.

Avalanche problems

  • Wind Slabs

    • Alpine
    • Treeline
    • Below treeline
    Likelihood
    Possible
    Size
    1–1.5

    Today's storm will bring 1-4" of snow and very strong winds to this zone today. The western portion of this zone (from Dollarhide and west into the Soldiers) will be favored by this storm and conditions will be more hazardous there. The combination will build wind slabs that will increase in size and sensitivity throughout the day. Expect to find slabs forming in both obvious locations (near ridgelines) as well as in atypical locations (near mid-slope terrain features). If the snow you are traveling through becomes deeper and denser you've found a fresh slab. Cracks shooting out from in front of your skis or machine are clear indications that the slab you found is unstable. The slabs that form today are unlikely to be large enough to bury you, but they will be able to knock you off your feet or machine and send you down the slope. 

    Today's snow will be falling on a variety of surfaces. In most locations, warm temperatures and abundant sunshine generated slick, icy melt-freeze crusts that will be buried by today's snow. Any slab or sluff you trigger will be able to pick up speed quickly as it travels downslope.

Avalanche Discussion

Today will bring a return of winter to our region. It has been quite some time since we've dealt with dry snow problems in our neck of the woods. In fact, it looks like today's storm, although short-lived, may be the most intense we've seen since early January. Be prepared to shift your mindset as you head out today and be ready to dial back your ambitions through the day as the snow stacks up. If you start early today your likelihood of encountering an avalanche will be low. However, as the snow accumulates and the wind pushes it around, your likelihood of encountering avalanche problems will increase. By sunset it will be a different world out there, particularly in our northern and western mountains.

In most of our area, today's snow will provide the only avalanche hazard you'll be facing. But, if you head into upper elevation terrain on the northern quarter of the compass you'll find a more complex snowpack underneath the new snow. There is a fair bit of uncertainty around how the weak layers that still exist here will behave with today's loading event. We will have a better idea once the dust settles after this storm. You can significantly reduce this uncertainty by avoiding the terrain where these weak layers are at their worst: upper elevation terrain that faces north. 

Don't forget to pack an extra layer or two and your storm jacket today! It may be April but I suspect it will be feeling pretty wintery out there by this afternoon.

Regions covered