Lutak

The avalanche danger isLOW on all aspects and elevations. Unstable snow can be found in isolated terrain features or extreme terrain. Use safe travel techniques to limit exposure and manage your group. Even small avalanches can be harmful if the consequences of being caught are high such as cliffs, rocks, or terrain traps. The avalanche danger will increase as new snow falls over our region into the weekend.

Calm winds, clear days/nights, and cold temperatures, with a few inches of snow over a widespread hard melt-freeze surface crust spells trouble for the next snow load to fall on top ☠️❄️‼️. Over the past two days when the north winds eased, weak snow including surface hoar and near-surface facets have grown. Recent sunny weather also brought solar radiation into play that helped form more hard surfaces. 

The natural avalanche cycle that occurred on Jan 27-28th released a variety of persistent slabs up to size 3.5 that have been observed at all elevations, aspects, and forecast zones. Most crown lines have been refilled by the accumulation on Jan 29th or by the winds that followed. The increased freezing levels accompanied by heavy precipitation created a strong widespread layer when the temperatures dropped below 0F Feb 2nd-3rd.

Numerous weak and faceted layers exist in the snowpack and are getting worse. These persistent weak layers are below strong melt-freeze crust layers. In the near term, the layers are very unlikely to trigger, but that could change with an increase in precipitation, temperature, wind loading, or sun. We need to continue monitoring as we enter into spring, in extreme terrain and around unsupported slopes.

The people you go out with, how you communicate, and how you practice risk reduction as a team throughout the day are equally important as the conditions. Always practice safe travel techniques and terrain management- only exposing one person to a slope at a time, avoid grouping up in run-out zones, and re-consider islands of safety to truly limit your group's exposure. Carry radios, first-aid, and a two-way emergency communication device.

Recent weather history and snowpack layering:

•  Feb 2-3rd - Light snow over our regions with the highest accumulations near town with 3-5".
• Jan 31st-Feb 3rd - A strong northerly outflow event brought W-NW-N wind through the region. This was accompanied by another sharp drop in temperature with a maximum low of -15F at the Haines Pass. Another flip-flop weather event saw temperature increase between 25-40 degrees Fahrenheit.
• January 27-29th - A two-pulse pineapple express event with ~6" total SWE(snow water equivalent.) During the first wave, Jan 26-28th, 2-3" of SWE fell as temps climbed, with freezing levels peaking up to 5,000'. This is when a D3.5 slid over the Haines highway at 21-mile.  In part two of the event on Monday, Jan 29th, there was another 2-3"+ of SWE, but in 24 hours, and colder with 2,500-3,000' freezing levels and moderate to gusting strong S-SE winds. Both these events helped create the current widespread melt-freeze surface crust. 
• January 2024 - Cold temperatures most of January faceted and accelerated the weakening of persistent snow grains throughout the snowpack: at the surface, below wind slabs, near melt-freeze crusts, and on the ground, especially in areas with a shallow snowpack. Three major dips in temperatures occurred around Jan 11th, Jan 19th, and Jan 22nd.
• December 29th - The end of the year (EOY) melt-freeze crust is from when above-freezing temperatures  ~3,000ft- 4,000ft or higher caused the formation of a thick ( 1" +/-), widespread melt-freeze crust down 20-50cm. The cold weather in mid-January faceted and weakened snow around the crust. The "late-January pineapple express" had avalanches that released EOY instabilities in some areas but inconclusive in others.

Help us gather information about weather, snowpack, and avalanche activity by reading and submitting field observations. Useful observations can be anonymous and include: 

• Avalanche Activity: Natural or human-triggered
• Signs of Instability: Cracking, collapsing, or whumping
• Red Flag Weather: Precipitation, wind loading, warming temperatures and rain-on-snow
• Persistent Weak Layers: Surface hoar growth, snow depth, persistent weak layers, etc
• Snow Pits: Stability test results, layers of concern, total snow depth, location, elevation, aspect, etc 

Were you caught, carried, injured, or buried in a slide? We are all human and can benefit from anonymous lessons learned. Please report incidents to Haines Avalanche Center staff confidentially.