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Forecast for the Skyline Area Mountains

Brett Kobernik
Issued by Brett Kobernik on
Saturday morning, December 29, 2018
A MODERATE avalanche danger exists along the upper ridgelines where recent wind drifted snow has been deposited. Watch for cracking within these fresh drifts which will give you a clue to how sensitive they are. Away from the higher ridges the avalanche danger is generally LOW.
Continue to use safe travel protocol: Travel one at a time in steep terrain, keep your partner in sight and be in position to get to them quickly should there be an avalanche. Don't regroup at the bottom of steep slopes.
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Weather and Snow
Cold. High temperatures on Friday barely made it into the teens. They dropped down to around zero overnight. East wind on Thursday night blew some of the new snow around but not as bad as it could've been. The wind direction shifted around to the west late Friday and drifted a little more snow.
Riding conditions are good outside of wind affected terrain. You'll find plenty of decent powder out there again today.
It looks like another nice day for weather although it won't get all that warm. Another storm will move in mid day on Sunday and linger into Monday bringing perhaps another 3 to 5 inches of snow.
Recent Avalanches
I did not see any new natural avalanches caused by the wind during my travels on Friday.
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Avalanche Problem #1
Wind Drifted Snow
Type
Location
Likelihood
Size
Description
With the wind direction all over the place recently, you'll find fresh drifts on slopes that face all different directions. If you trigger one, I don't think they'll be all that large. These fresh drifts should stabilize fairly quickly also. Just keep in mind that you might get something to crack out on you along the upper ridgelines and steep high elevation slopes.
One more thing to keep in mind with the wind drifted snow is that there is a small chance that it drifted enough onto a steep high northerly facing slope that is holding old weak sugar snow near the ground and is now dangerous. You might be the straw that breaks the camel's back. This seems unlikely but it's worth keeping in mind.
Additional Information
SKYLINE AVALANCHES & OBSERVATIONS
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INSTAGRAM: SKYLINE_AVALANCHE
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This forecast is from the U.S. Forest Service, which is solely responsible for its content. This forecast describes general avalanche conditions and local variations always occur.
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