Today's Discussion

Danger remains essentially LOW in the urban paths where people live..  With rain down low, limited snow up high, and not much snow in the avalanche track and runouts avalanche dangers will remain low over the next 24-48 hours.  This will remain a 2 day forecast until Sunday AM unless conditions change drastically.

If you head into the mountains up high to play you may find conditions more MODERATE and yet still for small to mid sized avalanches.

Rain to mid mountain has taken away dangers of larger longer slides and yet at uppermost elevations we did see a few inches of snow and super strong winds creating wind slabs on lee slopes.  This storm also warmed slightly leading to a heavier slab on a poor bed surface from pre storm.

Use caution today if you go out to play and yet in the urban paths this will pose no threat in the near term down low.

Yesterday the tram peaked at 34.9f with a low of only 32f.  Its currently 34.2f and yet they only received .03" swe...  not really enough to create any snow up top even if it was all snow.  Winds were ESE 36-43 and are currently winds are ese 10 mph.

Eaglecrest saw a little more moisture with .3" swe which could be 2-4 new on summit and yet at powder patch it only yielded .2" snow...  I assume thats more like 2" with settling showing less...  but still not enough to drive large avalanches... winds there were quite strong at ESE47-64mph.  Current winds are ESE12MPH.  Temps this am are 31 on top after a low of 29 and a high of 32...  Still not much cold air.

With new snow on summit, high winds and continued precipitation both wind slab avalanche and wet slab avalanches are possible yet both forecast to be very small in size and only at the uppermost elevations.

The next few days call for less than 1" of swe over 3 days and continued above freezing temps to mid mountain.  The forecast for the next 24 hours is only calling for .14" swe...  less than 2" snow...  after that it picks up to .52" SWE over the following 24 hours..  still only in the 5" range...  still not enough to drive natural avalanches and yet with wind shallow slabs may form that will be sensitive on upper elevation wind loaded slopes.

If you do head out to play recognize dangers have increased slightly even though slides will be small should they occur.

Primary Avalanche Problem

Wind Slab

Description

With a little new snow on summit and continued winds shallow wind slabs have formed and will continue to form on the uppermost portions of the mountains.  Light precipitation and warm temps will limit slide sized and potential.  Danger remains low down low.  Caution is more advised in upper elevation start zones.

Secondary Avalanche Problem

Wet Slab

Description

With rain volumes increasing over the next 48-72 hours and warm temps still in place wet slab avalanches may be possible anyplace with previous slabs in place.  Uppermost elevations are your primary concern as we still dont have much snow down low.

dangers will continue to increase over the next 48 hours as precip volumes also increase.

Please continue to support the Coastal Ak Avalanche Center and share your observations at CoastalAkAvalanche.org

This helps everyone better understand what is occurring in the backcountry.

Please remember this is an urban forecast.