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Avalanche Forecast

Archived

Jan 7th, 2015–Jan 8th, 2015

Alpine
Natural avalanches unlikely.
Treeline
Natural avalanches unlikely.
Below Treeline
Natural avalanches unlikely.
Alpine
Natural avalanches unlikely.
Treeline
Natural avalanches unlikely.
Below Treeline
Natural avalanches unlikely.

Regions

Olympics.

Avoid steep sun exposed slopes if snow becomes wet in more than the top few inches. Smaller loose wet avalanches usually precede large loose wet avalanches.

Detailed Forecast

Another dry, sunny and warm day is expected Thursday. Freezing levels should be in the 11,000 foot range with light winds. Amazing weather for January.

Loose wet avalanches while unlikely should be the main avalanche problem on Thursday in areas of the Olympics with sufficient snow cover. Remember that areas with shallow snow may become unstable first or may initiate from rocks or vegetation. Avoid steep sun exposed slopes when snow becomes wet in more than the top few inches.

 

Snowpack Discussion

At Hurricane Ridge about 2 inches of rain was seen Sunday night to Monday.

This may have produced avalanches in some higher elevation areas of the Olympics with sufficient snow cover.

And now sunny unseasonably warm weather is being seen in the Olympics and Cascades mid-week. In the Olympics this should be causing draining, consolidation, stabiilzing and a resetting of the upper or entire snowpack.

NWAC observer Tyler Reid at Hurricane today reported that what snow was left there was wet and consolidated and consisted of rounds and melt forms.

Problems

Loose Wet

Loose Wet avalanches are the release of wet unconsolidated snow or slush. These avalanches typically occur within layers of wet snow near the surface of the snowpack, but they may quickly gouge into lower snowpack layers. Like Loose Dry Avalanches, they start at a point and entrain snow as they move downhill, forming a fan-shaped avalanche. Other names for loose-wet avalanches include point-release avalanches or sluffs. Loose Wet avalanches can trigger slab avalanches that break into deeper snow layers.