Dashboard Regions Weather Stations Radar Alerts Glossary
Contact About
Log In

Register for an account and never miss a forecast again!

Register

Avalanche Forecast

Archived

Jan 16th, 2015–Jan 17th, 2015

Alpine
Natural avalanches unlikely, human triggered possible.
Treeline
Natural avalanches unlikely, human triggered possible.
Below Treeline
Natural avalanches unlikely, human triggered possible.
Alpine
Natural avalanches unlikely, human triggered possible.
Treeline
Natural avalanches unlikely, human triggered possible.
Below Treeline
Natural avalanches unlikely, human triggered possible.

Regions

Olympics.

Watch for warming and rain affecting recent storm snow, mainly where local deposits are greatest, such as lee slopes below ridges at higher elevations. 

Detailed Forecast

A strong warm front should spread increasing precipitation to the Olympics Saturday with strong winds and substantial warming with freezing levels climbing above 8,000 feet. 

The rain should cause some local increased danger, mainly above treeline in those areas where deeper recent storm snow may exist, with increased likelihood of wet loose or isolated wet slab avalanches. It is not likely there should be a significant increase in the danger from this problem around the Hurricane Ridge area, however, due to the shallow recent snow amounts. 

On backcountry travel safety note, watch for terrain hazards (exposed rocks, trees, streams, etc.) at lower elevations and on wind scoured aspects.

 

Snowpack Discussion

Observations received Friday from NWAC observer Tyler Reid touring around Hurricane Ridge, indicated the recent storm snow was not all too impressive only amounting to 2-3 inches and finished off with a nice rain crust. This has limited the amount of increased danger forecast Friday by a wide margin, but the downhill conditions were not well suited for enjoyable recreating anyway.

The overall snowpack remains very shallow around the Hurricane Ridge areas of the Olympics, consisting of the shallow new snow, in places, over well consolidated melt freeze or crust layers. 

The only noted avalanche problem Friday was very small, localized cornice formations along some NW ridges.  There are plenty of terrain anchors, or just exposed terrain, near and below treeline with the current shallow overall snow depths. 

Problems

Loose Wet

Loose Wet avalanches are the release of wet unconsolidated snow or slush. These avalanches typically occur within layers of wet snow near the surface of the snowpack, but they may quickly gouge into lower snowpack layers. Like Loose Dry Avalanches, they start at a point and entrain snow as they move downhill, forming a fan-shaped avalanche. Other names for loose-wet avalanches include point-release avalanches or sluffs. Loose Wet avalanches can trigger slab avalanches that break into deeper snow layers.

Wet Slabs

Wet Slab avalanches are the release of a cohesive layer of snow (a slab) that is generally moist or wet when the flow of liquid water weakens the bond between the slab and the surface below (snow or ground). They often occur during prolonged warming events and/or rain-on-snow events. Wet Slabs can be very unpredictable and destructive.