Avalanche forecast

Haines Pass

Haines Avalanche Center
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Avalanche danger

Alpine
4 · High
Treeline
4 · High
Below
4 · High
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Out of date — this forecast expired 3 years ago. You’re viewing past conditions, not the current bulletin.

Highlights

A strong storm system is producing hazardous weather conditions and elevated avalanche danger with rapid snowfall, wind loading and increasing temperatures. This combination of factors will increases the likelihood of any slope greater than 30 degrees in steepness at all elevations to produce a high consequence slide. We can reduce our risk by avoiding avalanche terrain today, including terrain traps where snow can pile up quickly and run out zones while storm instabilities settle out.

Avalanche problems

  • Storm Slabs

    • Alpine
    • Treeline
    • Below treeline
    Likelihood
    Very Likely
    Size
    1–3

    An avalanche cycle is occuring as 24-hour storm totals could reach up to 2-3ft with warming tempertures and strong southeast winds. Wind loading can be expected on predominately W-NW-N-NE aspects where larger, more destructive natural avalanches are likely and run-out zones should be avoided. With the slight temperture increase from yesterday, today's snowfall could fall upside-down with colder snow underneath warmer more cohesive snowfall.

    These instabilities can last between a few hours and a few days and are distrubuted widely across terrain recieving similar snowfall amount. You can reduce your risk by waiting a day or two after the storm before venturing into steeper terrain.  Additionally, beware of smaller slopes such as gullies, road-cuts and un-suspecting slopes greater than 30 degrees that could act as terrain traps where even a small slide could pile snow up quickly and make a rescue very difficullt.

Avalanche Discussion

Intermittent melt-freeze layers are present througout the snowpack at all elevations and aspecsts. These layers have mostly been found to be healing but could fail and produce an unlikely though larger avalanche. Our overall warmer and wetter temperature regime this season has helped slow the development of persistent weak layers (PWL's) in the snowpack. However at higher elevations and further inland these grain types can exist especially above and below melt-freeze layers and will require continued assessment.

The people you go out with, the way you communicate, and the way you practice risk reduction as a team throuhgout the day is equally important as the conditions.

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

  • Natural or human-triggered avalanche activity
  • Signs of instability: Cracking, collapsing, or whumpinng
  • Red Flag Weather: Precipitation, wind loading, warming tempertures and rain-on-snow
  • Surface hoar growth, snow depth, persistent weak layers, etc
  • Snow stability tests, or pit result and location, elevation, aspect, etc 

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

 

 

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