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Avalanche Forecast

Archived

Feb 2nd, 2015–Feb 3rd, 2015

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

Regions

Olympics.

Shallow storm slabs are possible on lee northerly terrain above treeline Tuesday. 

Detailed Forecast

Another weak front will bring light rain and snow to the Olympics on Tuesday. Snow levels should fluctuate around 4000 feet. Only light amounts of new snow are expected however. Any earlier snow since Sunday may have bonded poorly to surface crusts on northerly aspects above treeline, allowing shallow storm slabs to develop. Also, watch for any wind transported snow, mainly near exposed ridges.

The avalanche danger Tuesday will be relegated to aspects and elevations with sufficient snow cover. 

Snowpack Discussion

Mostly very mild and sunny weather last week continued to deplete the Olympics already meager snowpack. A frontal system on Sunday and another weaker front Monday brought some light rain and snow to the Hurricane Ridge area. 

There is currently not enough snow near and below treeline to present any avalanche danger. 

The latest observations in the Hurricane Ridge area were from Jan 25th, by pro-observer Katy Reid, venturing out toward Mt. Angeles to observe one of the few above treeline areas accessible from Hurricane Ridge. She found snowdepths averaging 40-80 cm on N aspects with a few drifts above 1 meter. Snow cover was patchy, only a few hundred feet below the ridge, even on N facing slopes. This snow was well bonded consisting of melt forms and crusts and did not pose an avalanche problem.

 

Problems

Storm Slabs

Storm Slab avalanches are the release of a cohesive layer (a slab) of new snow that breaks within new snow or on the old snow surface. Storm-slabs typically last between a few hours and few days (following snowfall). Storm-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.