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Out of date — this forecast expired 6 years ago. You’re viewing past conditions, not the current bulletin.

Highlights

Mostly sunny skies with mild temperatures will allow small loose wet instabilities to develop throughout the day.  Overall, LOW avalanche danger will exist at all elevations.  Avalanche danger is expected to rise over the weekend as a storm impacts our region.

Avalanche problems

  • Loose Wet

    • Alpine
    • Treeline
    • Below treeline
    Likelihood
    Unlikely
    Size
    1

    Small loose wet instabilities could develop today on all aspects and elevations as daytime warming occurs.  A good overnight refreeze of the snowpack along with increasing clouds and winds this afternoon should help to limit larger instabilities from forming.  High sun angles and intense April sunshine will warm the snow surface and provide wet snow conditions on most aspects by midday.  Wind protected solar aspects and terrain around rocks and gully features will be the most likely to warm quickly today. 

    Small loose wet avalanches could still be problematic and push you into rocks, trees, or over cliffs.  Change aspects if the snow surface becomes wet and unsupportive.  Roller balls and pinwheels could be an indicator that larger loose wet avalanche activity is possible.

Avalanche Discussion

Observations were submitted yesterday from the Little Truckee Summit area.  Forecasters went searching for lingering buried surface hoar instabilities throughout this area.  While they found the layer intact in isolated areas, they found no signs of instabilities.  Surface breakable crusts softened by midday in this area providing decent travel conditions.

After further observations and no additional reported avalanche activity, the persistent slab avalanche problem has been removed from the avalanche forecast.  This problem was based on buried surface hoar that was responsible for numerous human triggered avalanches since our last storm.  Surface hoar was deposited on the snow surface before the March 24-26 storm cycle and then became buried under 1' of storm snow.  Persistent slab avalanches ranged in size from 1' to 3' deep and produced mostly D2 avalanches.  Most all avalanche activity was reported between Wednesday March 25-Friday March 27 with 1 other avalanche reported on Monday March 30.  Continued monitoring of this layer indicates that it has gained strength and is unlikely to produce avalanches on a regional scale.       

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