Avalanche forecast

West Slopes South

Northwest Avalanche Center
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Avalanche danger

Mon
Alpine
1 · Low
Treeline
1 · Low
Below
1 · Low
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Highlights

A very stout and often icy surface crust should limit the avalanche hazard in the West South zone Sunday. In very steep and rocky terrain you may find that the few inches of new snow drifted into small isolated slabs. Be leery of textures surfaces and slopes below cornices if you choose to venture into high consequence terrain. 

Avalanche problems

  • Wind Slabs

    • Alpine
    • Treeline
    • Below treeline
    Likelihood
    Unlikely
    Size
    1

    The West-South zone should only receive a few inches of snow by mid-morning Sunday, and this won’t likely be sufficient to increase the avalanche danger. However, with anticipated moderate winds, you could find this light dusting of snow drifted into shallow isolated wind slabs in very steep and rocky terrain. If you plan to travel into confined features such as rock-walled chutes or onto cliffy faces, keep your eyes open for thin pockets of windblown snow. Small drifts behind rocks and subtle texturing of the surface may provide your only clues. Make visual observations of the snow surface before committing to these high consequence slopes where even small avalanches could harm you. 

    (11/29/2020) Example: Textured surfaces like this indicate wind loading on nearby slopes.

Avalanche Discussion

A very strong upper snowpack exists in most areas of the West South zone thanks to last week’s atmospheric river and recent cooler temperatures. This created a thick (6-8” 15-20cm) and supportable surface curst up to at least 7000'. As a result, we expect generally safe avalanche conditions. Any avalanche activity should be limited to the few inches of new snow at mid and upper elevations. 

Instead of worrying about layers buried within the snowpack, prepare for difficult travel conditions. Very firm icy slopes, piles of frozen avalanche debris, and open creeks all await you. Some of these obstacles may hide under a few inches of snow, making them harder to spot. At lower elevations, you could encounter a thinner and less supportable crust resulting in “punchy” conditions. Give yourself extra time to travel on Sunday.

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