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Avalanche Forecast

Archived

Apr 8th, 2015–Apr 9th, 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.

The main avalanche problem should be possible small loose wet avalanches on solar slopes on the highest peaks of the Olympics.

Detailed Forecast

A weak shortwave, moisture and instability should continue to linger over Washington on Thursday. Expect cumulus and partly sunny weather in the Olympics on Thursday. This will not greatly change snow conditions.

It's April, so be aware of the increased sun effects reaching more aspects and affecting the snow surface fairly quickly. Loose wet avalanches involving shallow amounts of recent storm snow may be possible Thursday, mainly in direct sun on solar slopes on the highest peaks of the Olympics.  

Snowpack Discussion

The storm snow received mid to late March at Hurricane Ridge mostly melted near and below treeline during warm and occasionally rainy weather. 

A large weak upper trough moved over the Northwest last weekend through early this week. This may have caused some light snow at times in the Olympics with low snow levels but there has been little or no new snow at Hurricane. Freezing levels have been very low in April compared to most of the winter, averaging about 4-5000 feet.

Unfortunately, we are still a long way off from building a meaningful snowpack in the Olympic mountains as we head further into spring, as any new snow received doesn't last long with the longer days and stronger sun.     

No recent snowpack observations have been received from the Olympics and most areas near and below treeline in the Olympics do not have enough snow to cause an avalanche danger.

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.