Avalanche forecast

Central Cascades

Dec 19 – 20, 2024Central Oregon Avalanche Center
View on map
Archived · expired 2 years ago

Avalanche danger

Fri
Alpine
2 · Moderate
Treeline
1 · Low
Below
1 · Low

Highlights

Most of our wet problems associated with the rain early Wednesdaty have stabilized... by freezing into a crust :)  High in the Alpine, above the rain line, you might find isolated windslabs. 

Avalanche problems

  • Wind Slabs

    • Alpine
    • Treeline
    • Below treeline
    Likelihood
    Possible
    Size
    1–1.5

    The rain and wet snow reached up in elevation to about  7500 - 8000 feet on Wed morning.  If you venture high into the Alpine and notice there is no more crust, you may find yourself back in the land of possible windslabs.

Avalanche Discussion

The bulk of our snowpack is dominated by a melt freeze crust.   This crust has locked up our wet problems and is bridging our resent storm slab problems.  You can verify the absence of wet problems by digging in the snow, grabbing it and seeing if your glove gets wet.  Today, I couldn't find any wet snow. I did however see snow moving in plumes at the top of Broken Top indicating to me that the upper elevations dodged the crust, but could harbor windslabs.

Regions covered