Avalanche forecast

Avalanche forecast

Payette Avalanche Center
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Avalanche danger

Sat
Alpine
1 · Low
Treeline
1 · Low
Below
1 · Low
Out of date — this forecast expired 4 years ago. You’re viewing past conditions, not the current bulletin.

Highlights

Freezing temperatures overnight are helping to re-freeze and stabilize the upper snowpack. Sunny skies will help the temperature on the snow surface to climb throughout the day and increase the possibility of small (D1- relatively harmless to people), wet-loose avalanches.  Steep slopes that are receiving direct sun are going to be shedding snow and producing point releases, especially near rocks.  If you find yourself sinking into the snowpack past your ankles, or you are seeing point releases and or rollerballs, move to a cooler, more stable aspect that is not receiving direct impact from the sun.

 

Avalanche problems

  • Loose Wet

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

    Warm temps this past week have left the upper snowpack moist and not frozen until the last couple of days. Freezing temps overnight during the last 24 hours have been significant enough to have a greater effect on locking up the upper snowpack. 

    Your best chance of starting a wet loose avalanche today would be on a SW or west aspect later in the day or evening. The long days are putting sun effect on west-facing slopes until 8 pm when the sun finally sets. Below 7,000 feet the snowpack is becoming shallow to non-existent. Shallow, rocky slopes that are getting heated by the sun are going to be more unstable as they may not take much heat to soften them to the point of mush. 

    If you sinking into the snowpack past your ankles, or you are seeing point releases and or rollerballs, move to a cooler, more stable aspect that is not receiving direct impact from the sun.

     

     

    A cooling trend at the Granite mountain weather station.

Avalanche Discussion

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The snowpack had been wet and un-frozen until a few days ago when temps started getting back to normal... With the nights getting cooler and helping to lock up the upper snowpack, we will probably not see really big wet-loose avalanches until later next week when temps climb back up again. Any wet-loose activity produced today should be small, and relatively harmless to people(D-

While the avalanche danger is pretty much non-existent in the morning, pay attention during the day as the danger will rise as the heat of the Sun creates avalanches on solar aspects (E, SE, S. SW, and West).

Choose another slope aspect that is cooler if you see red flags like point releases or rollerballs, or you find yourself punching through the snow surface and are sinking past your ankles.

 

***PAC will issue our last advisory for the season on Saturday, April 9th, 2022