Seward & Southern Kenai Mtns

The last observed avalanches were today, Friday, December 1.  These avalanches were naturally triggered wet loose, from steep slopes in the 2,500′-3,000′ elevation zone and likely released during the stormy weather over the past two days.  With temps cooling off we don’t expect to see wet loose over the weekend and into next week.

Winter started with a bang dropping just under 2 feet of snow at the Grouse Creek Divide (mile 12) weather station on November 9 and 10.  The next big storm event occurred at Thanksgiving lasting through last weekend.  This storm was, unfortunately, very warm and it rained up to at least 3,000-4,000′ in places.  The most recent storm came this last Wednesday-Thursday.  This storm was colder and dropped 2 feet of snow above about 1,000′ with strong easterly winds.  The snow line was much lower, hovering around 100-400′.

It looks like we are going to get a little break from the monster storms we’ve experienced in the last week or so.  It looks to be partly to mostly cloudy through the weekend with a chance for light precipitation Saturday.  Temperatures look like they will be cold enough for this to fall as snow with up to 1″ possible. The winds are going to blow 10-20mph in the alpine through the weekend.

Winter is here and the storms keep coming!  With 2 feet of fresh snow in the last 2 days and moderate winds through the weekend, the wind will be moving the snow around creating fresh wind slabs in the alpine.  The signs of a wind slab are stiff snow over softer snow and cracks that shoot out from your snowmachine, skis, or board.  Wind slabs can be found on any aspect of the upper elevations.  Watch for wind blowing the snow off ridges and peaks and depositing it in specific places like the leeward side of ridges and gullies.  Avoid traveling in or under those areas that look loaded.  Fresh wind slabs can be easy to trigger for the first 24-48 hours after they form and will be big enough to injure a person or potentially bury a person and a snowmachine.

We don’t have any information about the snowpack in the Seward area except the observation from Carter Lake we posted yesterday, which can be found HERE.  If you are getting out in the mountains in the Seward area this weekend it will be really important to do your own snowpack assessment.  Watch for red flags, which include strong wind blowing snow to a specific place, cracks shooting out from you, and the feel and sound of the snowpack collapsing beneath you.  The absence of these red flags doesn’t mean you are good to go, it might mean that the snowpack isn’t as sensitive to easy triggers, or that you haven’t found the exact spot where you could trigger an avalanche.

View to the north of Carter Lake.  11.30.23

Snowpack at 1,550′ at Carter Lake.  11.30.23

Carter Lake Trailhead.  11.30.23

There were a few water crossings on the lower portion of the Carter Lake Trail.  11.30.23