Forecast for the Skyline Area Mountains

Brett Kobernik
Issued by Brett Kobernik on
Saturday morning, February 15, 2020
Overall the avalanche danger is generally LOW. There is a "pockety" or isolated MODERATE avalanche danger along the higher elevation steep slopes near the ridges especially on the more east facing slopes. Some small fresh drifts may crack out if disturbed by people today.
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Weather and Snow
Current Conditions: The southwest wind has increased over the last 24 hours and is fairly strong along the higher ridgelines especially on the north end of the Skyline. Riding conditions remain good in areas that have not been wind affected. You'll find melt-freeze crusts on the more sunny slopes. Ridgetop temperatures climbed into the low 30s on Friday and most stations are at around 20˚F this morning.
Mountain Weather: We'll see increasing clouds as the day goes on today. It's going to be a bit breezy up there along the ridges. High temperatures should get into the upper 20s along the ridges. The next storm unfortunately is looking smaller for our area. We'll see snowfall on Sunday but I'm only anticipating 2 to 5 inches now.
Recent Avalanches
No new avalanches have released since last Saturday.
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Avalanche Problem #1
Wind Drifted Snow
Type
Location
Likelihood
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Description
The wind along the ridges may be transporting some snow and forming some fresh drifts that might be sensitive today. I really don't think this is going to pose much threat out there but it's worth keeping an eye on if you're traveling in steep upper elevation terrain. Continue looking for cracking within the snow as you travel. This is a sign that you are in unstable snow. The most likely places that you could trigger a small avalanche is on very steep slopes near the ridgelines on the east half of the compass.
Additional Information
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.