Bollettino valanghe

Northern New Mexico

Taos Avalanche Center
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Pericolo valanghe

Sun
Alta quota
2 · Moderato
Limite del bosco
1 · Debole
Sotto il limite
1 · Debole
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In sintesi

At upper elevations on northerly aspects, it's possible to trigger a persistent slab avalanche where you find cohesive slabs over weak facets or depth hoar near the ground. Obvious signs of instability like shooting cracks or collapses most likely will not be present, so take the time to dig down into the snow to see if this strong over weak snowpack structure exists.  These avalanches would be stubborn to trigger, but if you did, it has the potential to take with it most of the season's snowpack.

At lower elevations, it may take a couple of nights of colder temperatures to see a full refreeze in the snowpack. If you find yourself punching through a crust into wet snow, stick to lower angle slopes. 

Problemi valanghivi

  • Persistent Slabs

    • Alta quota
    • Limite del bosco
    • Sotto il limite del bosco
    Probabilità
    Possible
    Dimensione
    2

    On northerly aspects at higher elevations, faceted crusts and depth hoar lurk beneath cohesive slabs that formed during the month of March.  These weak layers could still lead to a persistent slab avalanche in places where they've remained cold and dry and you're able to impact them.  

    In general, obvious signs of instability like cracking and collapsing may not be present so take the time to dig a snowpit and assess if this strong over weak snowpack structure exists.  Triggering a persistent slab avalanche has the potential to take with it most of the season's snowpack and could be large enough to injure or bury you.  Avalanches will grow in size the higher in elevation you climb and may take you finding a sweet spot on the margin of the slab or near rock outcroppings. 

    This large natural avalanche from March 18th is an example of the type of persistent slab avalanches you could trigger at upper elevations on northerly and east aspects.

    (3/26/2025) Photo: Andy Bond

  • Wet Slabs

    • Alta quota
    • Limite del bosco
    • Sotto il limite del bosco
    Probabilità
    Unlikely
    Dimensione
    1–2

    It may take a couple of nights of colder temperatures to see the snowpack fully refreeze to put the wet slab problem to bed, as we've had close to 5 days without a solid refreeze until last night. The concern is having wet saturated depth hoar on steep slopes where you can punch through a thin crust into the wet snow.  A probe pole can be a useful tool to feel how firm and thick those crusts are. When looking for wet snow, see if you can wring water out of the snow it's an indication that the snow has become wet a saturated. 

    Widespread depth hoar is relatively shallow in the snowpack and may still be wet from the warm temperatures over the last 5 days.  During the warm temperatures, it was easy to punch through the wet snow into this depth hoar layer.

    Photo: Andy Bond (3/26/2025)

Avalanche Discussion

We finally had a solid refreeze overnight after 5 days of warm temperatures that wrecked havoc on or snowpack. There's not much snow below 11,000' as trailheads have melted out down to bare ground, so if you are getting out, plan on doing some walking to access higher terrain.  Moderate to strong winds today with cooler temperatures should help ease the wet snow avalanche concerns we've had over the last week, but it could take a couple of nights of colder temperatures to see wet snow in our snowpack fully refreeze. At lower elevations, widespread depth hoar may still be wet beneath a crust that formed from last night's refreeze.  If you find the surface crust not supportable, the fear is that you could still punch into deeper weak layers and get them to collapse. If you find yourself punching through a crust into wet snow below, think about keeping it to lower angle slopes. 

A couple inches of snow overnight with moderate SW winds, won't be enough to change the avalanche problems, but you may find small isolated pockets of shallow wind slabs at upper elevations.  These small slabs will be found on the leeward sides of ridgelines and formed on top of melt-freeze crusts. Watch for obvious wind drifted pillows or shooting cracks off your boards.  These avalanches would be small, dust on crust, but could knock you off your feet in steep consequential terrain.   

We've kept persistent slab avalanches on upper elevation northerly terrain, as this is where slopes haven't had as much of a warm-up, and you'll still find cold snow with weak layers still present in our shallow snowpack this year.  Depth hoar and faceted crusts continue to remain weak in the snowpack and are only 50 to 100 cm below the surface in our shallow snowpack this year.  March storms have built cohesive slabs that rest on top of these weak layers.  Although stubborn to trigger after the last week, it may just take finding a sweet spot on the margins of the slab or near rock outcroppings to trigger an avalanche. These avalanches would be large potentially taking with it most of the season's snowpack. 

After the warm temperatures over the last week, travel, skiing and riding conditions are pretty bad. I hope most people have been enjoying the river, biking or climbing. There's still snow above 11,000' but you're going to have to travel over bare dirt and rocks to get there, so if you are planning on trying to get out, expect to have to work for it. The last scheduled avalanche forecast will be tomorrow, but we'll update throughout April during big storms as needed.  

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