Hello
and good morning, this is Toby Weed of the
Current Conditions: It
rained heavily in
Avalanche Conditions:
We
noticed a handful of fresh natural wind slab avalanches yesterday morning after
moderately strong westerly winds overnight Tuesday. Included on the list was more wind slab
activity on east facing slopes in the Central Wellsville Range (photo from 3-18), a good sized release reported
on Chicken Hill in Bunchgrass Canyon that was a foot or two deep and ~150’
wide, and other wind slabs in exposed upper elevation terrain. After an exceptionally warm day yesterday, large
natural wet point-release type avalanches occurred in
Triggered storm snow avalanches are likely on steep upper elevation slopes
with significant deposits of new or recently drifted snow. Sensitive drifts and wind slabs from yesterday
are now buried and obscured by up to a foot of somewhat heavy new snow. Continuing snowfall today will also hide
fresh drifts from overnight. I noticed
easy failures on small sugary grains called near surface facets yesterday, and
I fear that we are plagued by now buried persistent weak layers. Many avalanche slide paths in the area are
well filled-in and smooth, so even relatively small avalanches might run far or
fast.
Heavy rain and warmth at lower elevations overnight only exacerbated the
wet avalanche problem. And significant
wet avalanches are likely on steep slopes facing all directions this morning. Hopefully cooler temperatures today will
solidify things, but any sunshine through the clouds will rapidly warm things
up again. You may find even smallish wet
avalanches entraining lots of mass and traveling far. Avoid and stay out from under steep low
elevation slopes with saturated snow.
Bottom Line:
There’s
a CONSIDERABLE avalanche danger in the backcountry,
and you are likely to trigger avalanches on slopes steeper than about 35 degrees. The danger of storm snow avalanches is
greatest at upper elevations and some natural slab releases are possible in
drifted terrain. Natural wet avalanches
are also possible at lower and mid elevations, and you should avoid and stay
out from under steep slopes with saturated snow.
Mountain Weather: Expect the snowfall to taper to showers
this afternoon with cooler temperatures.
Another cold front and more snow is expected
tomorrow. Continued productive zonal
pattern will continue through the week and another vigorous storm is shaping up
for early next week.
Check out the images page for photos of some of
this season’s avalanches.
Go to
the Avalanche Encyclopedia if you have any questions about terms I use in the advisory.
I'm very interested to
know what you're seeing out there. Please e-mail observations to me
at [email protected] or leave me a message at 755-3638, especially if you see or
trigger an avalanche in the backcountry. We keep all observations confidential.
This advisory will
expire in 24 hours from the posting time.
The information in this advisory is from the
U.S. Forest Service, which is solely responsible for its content. This
advisory describes general avalanche conditions and local variations always
occur.