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Avalanche Forecast

Archived

Feb 21st, 2017–Feb 22nd, 2017

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

Regions

Olympics.

Fresh or lingering wind slab may still be sensitive to skier triggering Wednesday. Wind slab will mostly likely be found on N-E-S aspects near and above treeline. Evaluate recent snow carefully before committing to steeper terrain. 

Detailed Forecast

Wednesday should be cool with scattered showers increasing in coverage and intensity in the afternoon. A few sunbreaks are possible in the afternoon but generally cloudy conditions are expected along the west slopes of the Cascades and Olympics.  

Fresh or lingering wind slab may still be sensitive to skier triggering Wednesday. Wind slab will mostly likely be found on N-E-S aspects near and above treeline.

Loose wet avalanches will not be indicated as an avalanche problem but watch for loose wet surface snow if you find yourself on solar slopes during sunbreaks.

 

Snowpack Discussion

Weather and Snowpack

Hopefully the last atmospheric river of the season arrived on Valentines Day 2/14 bringing another round of heavy rain, avalanches, crusts and consolidation through Thursday 2/16 in the Olympics. Minor snow was seen at Hurricane Ridge at the tail end of the storm.

A short period of fair weather on Friday 2/17 caused another surface crust. Light amounts of new snow accumulated over the weekend. The NPS rangers reported 5 inches of snow Monday morning at Hurricane Ridge. A slight warming trend was observed Monday along with generally light winds and light precipitation.  Fair weather was seen at Hurricane Ridge on Tuesday. 

Recent Observations

NWAC pro observer Matt Schonwald traveled to the Hurricane Hill region Friday. A hard, slick surface crust made travel precarious early Friday before the sun and warming began softening the crust. The few inches of snow fell during the tail end of the storm had bonded well and filled in many rain runnels, helping to smooth surface conditions. There was little evidence that the latest rain event produced any avalanches. The main hazard in the Hurricane area appeared to be an uncontrolled fall on the slick crust.

An observation via the NWAC Observations page for Hurricane reports a size-able loose wet avalanche on the W-SW side of Steeple Rock that probably occurred during the 2/14-2/16 period.

An observation via the NWAC Observations page from Mt. Ellinor on Sunday reported locally more snowfall and touchy avalanche conditions on Sunday.  

Problems

Wind Slabs

Wind Slab avalanches are the release of a cohesive layer of snow (a slab) formed by the wind. Wind typically transports snow from the upwind sides of terrain features and deposits snow on the downwind side. Wind slabs are often smooth and rounded and sometimes sound hollow, and can range from soft to hard. Wind slabs that form over a persistent weak layer (surface hoar, depth hoar, or near-surface facets) may be termed Persistent Slabs or may develop into Persistent Slabs.