Avalanche forecast

Gunnison

Crested Butte Avalanche Center
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Avalanche danger

Thu
Alpine
1 · Low
Treeline
1 · Low
Below
2 · Moderate
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Out of date — this forecast expired 5 years ago. You’re viewing past conditions, not the current bulletin.

Highlights

In the last 24hr we've seen a little snow and a little rain. Basically some lovely spring weather. The snowpack has matured through numerous freeze-thaw cycles this spring and for the most part remains generally safe. Heightened avalanche conditions could be encountered on some northerly facing slopes at lower elevations where you find a wet and saturated snowpack. 

Avalanche problems

  • Loose Wet

    • Alpine
    • Treeline
    • Below treeline
    Likelihood
    Possible
    Size
    1

    Normal caution for typical springtime wet avalanche concerns exists at all elevations. At lower elevations, if you manage to get a little snow moving on steep slopes, it could gouge deeper into a wet snowpack. A little recent rain was observed yesterday afternoon, and 10,000ft weather stations didn't record much for a freeze last night. If you are traveling in areas where you are sinking deeply into a wet and mushy snowpack, you may want to consider avoiding steep terrain. 

Avalanche Discussion

Remote weather stations are not showing much for new snow in the last 24 hours. 0 to 2" looks about it. One consideration is that the weather stations that record snow are at low elevations where we've seen more rain than snow. However, there are no notable changes in the SWE recordings at the Butte or Taylor Park weather stations, so it doesn't appear that we picked up that much water in the rain department. At 12,000ft there could be few inches of new snow in some areas where the temperatures have been colder. 

The only changes in today's forecast compared to past days messaging were at below treeline elevation. We've been messaging generally safe avalanche conditions at all elevations for a good bit now. With the lack of below-freezing temperatures, a cloudy overnight sky, and some rain, the avalanche conditions at below treeline elevations have just bumped into the MODERATE avalanche danger category with the requirement for some terrain and snowpack evaluation. 

Continue to give cornices their due caution. Cornice falls have been the culprit of several large avalanches over the past few weeks. Cooler temperatures have diminished the threat of cornice falls compared to a week ago, but there is an element of randomness to these overhangs trundling downslope. Check out this observation from Sunday of a sagging cornice on Mt. Emmons.

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