Warmer temperatures lead to weakened snowpack

Posted: Mar 17, 2013 4:14 PM

A reminder from the Gallatin National Forest Avalanche Center that there's still the possibility for avalanches as the snowpack is in a transition stage.

The center says, warmer temperatures last week have left the snowpack unstable. This weakening of the snowpack has produced both wet loose and wet slab avalanches over the last few days.

The avalanche danger was at moderate this morning, but had the potential to rise to "considerable" by the afternoon for wind-loaded slopes and slopes steeper than 35 degrees.

"At upper elevations, warm temperatures affected only the upper layers of the snowpack. On slopes where buried persistent weak layers are present, dry slab avalanches still remain possible. On Friday, outside of Cooke City, I had unstable test results on a layer of facets buried 2 feet deep on Mt Abundance. Don't panic, these buried faceted layers are not widespread - though they should not be forgotten," the report from the Gallatin National Forest Avalanche Center states.