Wind Slabs
- Alta quota
- Limite del bosco
- Sotto il limite del bosco
- Probabilità
- Likely
- Dimensione
- 2–3
Recent Avalanches: Five hikers were involved in an avalanche on Peak 3 last Saturday, including two people partially buried with injuries. We are hoping to get a better idea of the extent of any natural activity from yesterday's storm today.
With a break in the weather on the heels of an intense storm, we are heading into the kind of conditions where avalanche accidents happen. Yesterday's storm only brought 4 to 6" new snow to Chugach State Park, but that snow came in with sustained easterly winds that averaged 60 to 70 mph and had gusts as high as 87 mph. That snow will remain reactive today. It is likely a person will be able to trigger an avalanche 1 to 2' deep or deeper within new and windblown snow. These avalanches failing near the surface have the potential to step down to deeper weak layers, producing much larger avalanches. See Problem 2 for more.
Don't let today's quiet weather fool you– conditions are still dangerous. Approach steep terrain with caution.
Cornices: Yesterday's winds have continued to build very large cornices. With warm temperatures and a chance for some sun today, they will be more likely to fail. Give cornices plenty of space if you are traveling on ridgelines, and limit spending time below them.
Wet snow avalanches: The snowpack below treeline will be loose and saturated following yesterday's storm. It is likely a person will be able to trigger a wet loose avalanche at lower elevations. If the sun comes out, we may also see natural loose snow avalanches at upper elevations as the new snow warms. These avalanches may be relatively small, but they can still have big consequences in terrain with trees, cliffs, rocks or gullies in runout zones. Pay attention to overhead terrain, and avoid travelling under steep sunny slopes if the clouds break.
(5/1/2026)
Snowing sideways in Portage yesterday afternoon. This was the scene across most of our forecast area yesterday.
