Forecast for the Skyline Area Mountains

Brett Kobernik
Issued by Brett Kobernik for
Saturday, February 24, 2024
The avalanche danger rating for the Skyline is MODERATE today.
There are areas where lingering unstable snow still exists today.
There have been four snowmobile triggered avalanches in the last two days. Scattered human triggered avalanches are possible again today.
Low
Moderate
Considerable
High
Extreme
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Weather and Snow
Current Conditions: You'll find cold settled powder on mid and upper elevation northwest, north and northeast facing terrain. Other areas have become damp and you'll find crusts this morning. Temperatures got into the upper 20s to low 30s Friday and dropped to around 20˚F overnight. Wind has been calm to light from the west.
Mountain Weather: We'll see mostly clear skies today with temperatures into the mid 30s or a bit warmer. Wind should remain generally light from the west. Sunday looks similar. Clouds start to build in on Monday ahead of a storm that will move through Monday night into Tuesday. Rough estimates are 7 to 11 inches of new snow by Wednesday.
Recent Avalanches
There were three snowmobile triggered avalanches on Friday. No one was caught or injured. What is interesting is that some of these broke farther down off of the exposed ridgelines than I would have expected. Recent human triggered avalanches have released on northwest, north, east and southeast facing slopes between 9000' and 10,600' in elevation. Average depth is 12" and they range from 80' to a couple of hundred feet wide.
Photo below: Snow bike triggered, North Fork Pleasant Creek, Dave King
Photo below: Snowmobile remotely triggered, Potters Canyon, Troy Winter
HERE IS A LIST OF SIGNIFICANT RECENT AVALANCHES
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Avalanche Problem #1
Wind Drifted Snow
Type
Location
Likelihood
Size
Description
It's been two days since the last windy storm and most of the fresh drifts and slabs should be stable. However, the recent scattered avalanche activity over the last few days should be noted. I'm guessing there are still places that a person could trigger a slide today. The good news is that these avalanches are not all that large. The bad news is that you don't need a very large avalanche to injure or bury you, or worse.
Steep slopes just below wind exposed ridgelines are the most suspect. Also watch out around steep terrain features lower in the canyons as this has been where a couple of the recent avalanches occurred.
General Announcements
This forecast is from the U.S.D.A. Forest Service, which is solely responsible for its content. This forecast describes general avalanche conditions and local variations always occur.