Turnagain Pass Avalanche Forecast

• The CNFAIC will be issuing  intermittent snow and avalanche updates  as conditions warrant through mid-November.  
• Daily avalanche forecasts are planned to begin on Thanksgiving weekend  – unless cooler storms bring enough snow to increase avalanche concerns before then.  
  

*Early season folks:  Please send us your snow/avalanche reports so we can post them on our observation page. Thank you to all those who have  submitted  already! Simply click ‘submit observation’ under the Observation tab above. This is a huge benefit for the community and our forecasters.  Make sure to  like us on Facebook  and  follow us on Instagram  for our most up to date information.

Tuesday Nov. 13th update:

The dreaded Pineapple Express rolled through Southcentral Alaska Sunday and Monday (Nov 11/12)… This not only brought heavy rain to 3, 4 and even 5,000 feet, but 10 inches of it to the Portage Valley area (Bear Valley RWIS)! If it was only in the frozen form… That said, the 1-2 feet of snow that existed around treeline has been degraded to patches of mush and bare ground. Many wet avalanches occurred during the storm in the higher elevations, taking what snow there was available down the mountainsides.  

For this week, mild temperatures and clearer skies are forecast through Thursday with another shot of rain/snow on Friday night into the weekend. It’s still too early to say, but models are showing this weekend’s system bringing a rain/snow mix for road levels and possibly 6 inches to treeline and above. Check back for Saturday morning’s update   €“  in the meantime think cold thoughts!

Wet point release avalanches in the Carter Lake area on the Kenai (photo taken Nov 12: Seth Wells). Note the thiness of the snowpack and the slides taking all the snow in the path with them.

Webcam views from Tues, Nov 13th. Left – looking North through Jr’s Bowl/2nd Bowl toward Girdwood from Seattle Ridge weather station. Right – Tincan from the Turnagain Pass RWIS station.  

Photos from Nov 13th from the upper reaches of Girdwood valley, snow has been left at low-tide after yesterday’s rain (Will Brennen).

If you head out into the mountains to higher elevations harboring colder snow, be on the look out for Red Flag warnings:

1. Recent avalanches
2. Cracks in the snow that shoot out from you
3. Whumpfing (collapsing) of the snowpack
4. Rapid changes in weather (snow/rain/wind/temperature)