Avalanche forecast

Presidential Range

Mount Washington Avalanche Center
View on map

Avalanche danger

Wed
Alpine
2 · Moderate
Treeline
2 · Moderate
Below
1 · Low
Open full map
Out of date — this forecast expired 3 years ago. You’re viewing past conditions, not the current bulletin.

Highlights

You could trigger an avalanche in wind drifted snow large enough to bury a person. The most likely place to find this hazard is on steep south and east facing slopes. Watch out for areas of deeper snow and areas of bright white, pillow shaped snow to indicate this avalanche problem and carefully assess the snowpack before traveling on or under steep slopes.

Avalanche problems

  • Wind Slabs

    • Alpine
    • Treeline
    • Below treeline
    Likelihood
    Possible
    Size
    1–2

    It’s possible to trigger a wind slab avalanche formed by several days of strong winds and transported snow that is large enough to bury a person. The most likely place to find these wind slabs will be between 3000 and 5000 feet of elevation on south and east-facing slopes. These will look like bright white, large pillows of snow as compared to the wind textured snow around it. The sensitivity of this avalanche problem lacks consistency throughout the terrain. Areas of shallow slabs may be sensitive to a human trigger while in other areas thick slabs may be stubborn to trigger with no red-flag warnings to help indicate them. There is also the potential of triggering a smaller, sensitive slab that steps down to a larger, more stubborn slab below, creating a much larger avalanche with far greater consequences. If you are seeing bright white pillows of snow, getting deeper boot penetration or seeing shooting cracks, you have found the avalanche problem and careful assessment of the snowpack will be necessary before committing to steep slopes.

Avalanche Discussion

Visibility yesterday afternoon showed areas of large new wind slabs in the start zones of many areas of Tuckerman Ravine. Observations (Obs1, Obs2) showed variable sensitivity to the wind slab problem.

These wind slabs have been developing over the past week with small amounts of new snow every day and high winds which has made the distribution more widespread on east and south-facing aspects. Along with the increased distribution, the continuous snow transport has added to their size. However there is uncertainty to the sensitivity of these wind slabs due to various findings throughout field observations the past several days. In some areas wind slabs have been stubborn to react at the interface between the 1 finger slab and 4 finger hard snow below. In other areas slabs have been sensitive, failing on facets or the smooth icy bed surface below. This requires conservative terrain choices and continuous assessment to manage steep terrain today.

Look for the large, bright white pillows to help identify the wind slab problem and use column tests and hand-shears to carefully evaluate the snowpack. Avoid traveling under steep slopes that contain these wind slabs and cautious route-finding should be used while traveling in the terrain today. Or consider giving the snowpack a few days to continue to settle and stabilize before heading into avalanche terrain.

OBSERVATIONS: Please consider submitting an observation of what you are seeing in your travels. Submitting an observation hones your skills, informs other users, and improves our forecasts.

Regions covered