Observation: NWAC Forecaster
Basic Information
Observation Details
Observation Date:
April 9, 2023Submitted:
April 9, 2023Observer:
NWAC Forecaster - Katie WarrenZone or Region:
East CentralLocation:
East Central (Lower elevations; all aspects)Signs of Unstable Snow
Recent Avalanches?
YesCracking?
None ExperiencedCollapsing?
None ExperiencedMedia/Attachments
Advanced Information
Weather Summary
There was light rain beginning around 11:00 am in Icicle Creek with slightly increasing precipitation rates throughout the afternoon. The cloud deck was lower in areas further west in the zone and obscured higher-elevation terrain.
Widespread D1-D2 wet loose avalanches of varying age, but most likely ran in over the last 3 days.
Snowpack Observations
The poor weather and challenging travel steered me onto a driving tour of the East Central Zone. This vehicle assisted tour allowed me to look at the recent wet avalanche cycle and take stock of the conditions at lower-elevation trailheads.
The roads and groomed snowmobile trails in the Icicle, Teanaway, and Salmon La Sac are melting out quickly, many have long stretches of bare ground. Snow depths look to increase significantly around 3500-4000ft.
Despite today's poor visibility, the widespread wet-loose avalanche cycle is easy to spot. Most of the steep terrain had significant debris piles, particularly in gullies and below rocks and cliffs. It is hard to guess the age of most of these avalanches, but many paths had overlapping piles of avalanche debris. Some of them looked like they had run today or overnight. I was surprised that most of these slides were small, but it is possible we haven't been far enough into the mountains to observe the larger avalanches quite yet.
Avalanche Problems
| Problem | Location | Distribution | Sensitivity | Size | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Wet Loose
|
|