Forecast for the Skyline Area Mountains

Brett Kobernik
Issued by Brett Kobernik on
Wednesday morning, December 16, 2020
A MODERATE avalanche danger exists on steep upper elevation northerly facing slopes where the snowpack is more than a foot deep. Old weak faceted snow from November may collapse under the new snow and cause avalanches. If you hear a significant "WHOOMPING" noise while traveling, this is the old faceted snow collapsing under the weight of the new snow. This is an obvious sign of unstable snow.
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Moderate
Considerable
High
Extreme
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Weather and Snow
Current Conditions: No big change in conditions since Tuesday. The snowpack is starting to settle and consolidate a little bit. This should make travel easier in the coming days.
Mountain Weather: We'll have partly cloudy skies today with light wind and high temperatures along the ridges in the low 20s. The next storm will move through Thursday and should produce 4 to 9 inches of new snow.
Recent Avalanches
On Tuesday, a snowshoer in Canal Canyon experienced a significant "WHOOMP" of the snowpack. This is caused by the weak sugar snow near the ground collapsing under the weight of the new snow and the snowshoer acting as a trigger. This was in a flat meadow. Had this been on a steeper slope, it would have avalanched. This is the first significant sign of instability this winter involving old snow and it probably won't be the last, unfortunately.
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