Hatcher Pass |
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33″ of snow and 1.7″ of SWE have accumulated at Hatcher Pass since 3/7. The IM snotel at 3550′ is reporting over 100 inches of snow this season! Quite impressive.
This RAPID load will OVERLOAD weak layers and NATURAL AVALANCHES are POSSIBLE today and HUMAN TRIGGERED are LIKELY.
Storm Slabs, Deep Persistent Slabs, and Dry Loose sluffs will be avalanche problems today and into tomorrow. Dangerous avalanche conditions. Careful snowpack evaluation, cautious route-finding, and conservative decision making are essential today.
Saturday Advisory HERE.
Signal Word | Size (D scale) | Simple Descriptor |
Small | 1 | Unlikely to bury a person |
Large | 2 | Can bury a person |
Very Large | 3 | Can destroy a house |
Historic | 4 & 5 | Can destroy part or all of a village |
Expect storm slabs on all aspects and all elevations up to 36″ thick. We expect this problem to heal within 24-48 hours after the storm stops.
Signal Word | Size (D scale) | Simple Descriptor |
Small | 1 | Unlikely to bury a person |
Large | 2 | Can bury a person |
Very Large | 3 | Can destroy a house |
Historic | 4 & 5 | Can destroy part or all of a village |
We have moved… from a persistent slab problem to a DEEP PERSISTENT SLAB problem. The January Facet layer is now more than 100 cm deep/ 3+ feet in most locations.
Deep persistent slabs have been overloaded with an additional 34″ of new snow in the past 48 hours. Natural avalanches will be possible today and human triggered likely on all aspects at all elevations. Large avalanches in specific areas or very large in isolated areas.
This avalanche problem may fail on slopes as low as 30º in steepness.
Signal Word | Size (D scale) | Simple Descriptor |
Small | 1 | Unlikely to bury a person |
Large | 2 | Can bury a person |
Very Large | 3 | Can destroy a house |
Historic | 4 & 5 | Can destroy part or all of a village |
Significant new snow will increase the size and volume of sluffs today. Dry loose sluffs will be large and challenging to manage, navigate, or run-out on steep slopes at mid and upper elevation, on all aspects.