Avalanche forecast

Blues

Wallowa Avalanche Center
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Avalanche danger

Fri
Alpine
2 · Moderate
Treeline
1 · Low
Below
1 · Low
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Out of date — this forecast expired 6 years ago. You’re viewing past conditions, not the current bulletin.

Highlights

Look for snow to be blown into snow drifts up to 6-8" deep in leeward terrain and cross loaded gullies.  This will be where the best riding conditions exist, but the new snow is sitting on a stout solstice rain crust.   In terrain steeper than 35 degrees, you could trigger an isolated wind slab sitting on this slick rain crust.  If you are noticing fresh wind drifts, test their reactiveness on small inconsequential test slopes and avoid terrain that could push you into a terrain trap.  

Avalanche problems

  • Wind Slabs

    • Alpine
    • Treeline
    • Below treeline
    Likelihood
    Possible
    Size
    1

    Limited observations exist in the Blue Mountains.  I did make it out to Spout Springs yesterday (Wednesday), and found a generally more consolidated snowpack than what I saw in the Elkhorns.  The current snow surface consists of either scoured rain crust or windblown pockets of dense graupel snow up to 6" deep.  Near the top of Spout Springs, I found this supportive solstice rain crust to be much more uniform than the layer cake style rain crust that can be found at higher elevations.  This is likely due to the varied freezing level during the rain event at the beginning of the week.  The snowpack in the  location where I dug certainly contained layers, but seemed to be quite consolidated.    Limited observations exist, and I would expect there is a great deal of spatial variability in the the thickness of the solstice rain crust as you gain elevation.  

    (12/23/2020) Notice the windblown rain crust snow surface in the foreground with pockets of drifted graupel snow in the upper left corner of the picture.

Regions covered