Avalanche forecast

Bridgeport Avalanche Center

Bridgeport Avalanche Center
View on map

Avalanche danger

Sun
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Out of date — this forecast expired 3 years ago.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

Human-triggered avalanches are possible today. As the winds increase throughout the day watch for wind-transported snow loading up leeward aspects in and above the treeline. Wind slab avalanches in specific areas prompt us to choose terrain carefully and identify features of concern.

Avalanche problems

  • Wind Slabs

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

    With the front of the next storm moving in today,  moderate wind from the Southwest with stronger gusts on ridgelines will create the recipe for wind slab avalanches to form in the Alpine and around Treeline terrain. There is still plenty of new snow available for transport after Tuesday's storm. The snow that fell was light, cold and unconsolidated. Several days have passed since this event, however, temperatures have remained unseasonably cold. 

    testing the slope and looking for instabilities in the wind drifted snow in the Sardine Can wall area

Avalanche Discussion

Signs of natural avalanches were seen in Northern Mono County this week. The snow that fell Tuesday night was light and unconsolidated making roadside observations possible. Loose Dry point releases ran in Devil's Gate on HWY 395. Twin Lakes had several natural wind slab avalanches released as well. 

In the BWRA a slab avalanche was artificially triggered via explosives in the Leavitt Lake area and released with enough force to bury or injure a person during a controlled training exercise. 

Overall our snowpack is massive and instabilities in the pack have been isolated in and around the surface. Everywhere we have dug in the BWRA we could not find deeper signs of instability. This is important to note because of the effect of spatial variability that occurs across the Sierra and how we have been finding localized differences in our forecast area. 

Regions covered