Avalanche forecast

Central Sierra Nevada

Sierra Avalanche Center
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Avalanche danger

Alpine
1 · Low
Treeline
1 · Low
Below
1 · Low
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Out of date — this forecast expired 12 years ago. You’re viewing past conditions, not the current bulletin.

Highlights

The avalanche danger remains LOW on all elevations and aspects. Continue to practice safe travel habits and thoughtful decision making when traveling in the backcountry.

Avalanche problems

  • Cornices

    • Alpine
    • Treeline
    • Below treeline
    Likelihood
    Unlikely
    Size
    1

    Avalanche activity will remain unlikely today. Sunshine and daytime warming should cause enough melting for some soft surface snow to form on the sun-exposed southerly aspects today. In spite of this warming, a decent overnight refreeze, well established drainage channels, the weak January sun, and increased winds will all help prevent significant wet snow instabilities from forming today.

    On the northerly aspects, a poorly developed weak layer does exist below the uppermost rain crust in some areas. However, the snowpack lacks a key ingredient for avalanche activity because finding a slab above this weak layer in an area where a person could trigger a slab avalanche remains very unlikely. This layer does warrant continued monitoring to see what it becomes before the weather decides to add new snow above it.

Avalanche Discussion

Yesterday observations on Elephant's Back showed mostly firm and scoured conditions on the northerly aspects with a few very small isolated patches of softer snow in sheltered places. On the sun-exposed southerly facing aspects, 1-2 inches of soft corn snow had formed above a supportable and frozen melt-freeze layer by 1 pm. Snowpit data, snowpit tests, and general observations did not reveal any signs of instabilities. Snowpit data indicated that the weak layer forming under the rain crusts in some other areas remained much less well developed here and that good bonding exists within that layer and between it and the snowpack layers above and below it.

Across Hwy 88 on Red Lake Peak, Caltrans was practicing with artillery explosives, and those charges did not reveal any signs of instability on the SE-S aspects on Red Lake Peak.

Regions covered