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Avalanche Forecast

Archived

Jan 16th, 2012–Jan 18th, 2012

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

Regions

Northwest Inland.

Confidence

Fair - Wind speed or direction are uncertain

Weather Forecast

The region is firmly in the grips of an Arctic Air mass. It looks like this pattern will persist through at least Thursday. Tomorrow looks very similar to today. Brutally cold temperatures: At 1500 m expect a high of -24 and low of -31. Winds will be blowing at moderate to strong values out of the E, NE at all elevations. Bundle up!

Avalanche Summary

There have been no recent avalanches observations reported from the region.

Snowpack Summary

The region received heavy rain last weekend creating a stout crust up to about 1000m. Moving up in elevation, that precipitation turned to snow. Winds wreaked havoc on the new snow in wind exposed areas. Those old wind slabs have mostly settled out now. The region has received a few small shots of snow in the last 4 days, and that snow is reportedly bonding well to the old snow surface. The snowpack is highly variable in the region as strong winds have accompanied most of the storms. Looking around you can see the evidence of the big winds; some ridges are scoured down to bare rock, others have fat wind pillows on them. Looks like this side of the mountains was out of the wind zone Monday.

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.

Persistent Slabs

Persistent Slab avalanches are the release of a cohesive layer of snow (a slab) in the middle to upper snowpack, when the bond to an underlying persistent weak layer breaks. Persistent layers include: surface hoar, depth hoar, near-surface facets, or faceted snow. Persistent weak layers can continue to produce avalanches for days, weeks or even months, making them especially dangerous and tricky. As additional snow and wind events build a thicker slab on top of the persistent weak layer, this avalanche problem may develop into a Deep Persistent Slab.