Observation: Turnagain

Location: Road Obs

Date:
Observer:
Route & General Observations

Drove through Turnagain Pass around 10:30am and again at 3:30pm after a tour up Sunburst. Visibility was good and we could see a few mid-storm small avalanches (D1-1.5) on specific steep terrain features as well as some debris in very steep and channeled terrain at bottom of Tincan SW face.

Many glide cracks that were visible before the New Years storm were covered and hard to see. We spotted a couple larger glide cracks opening (Lipps and Lynx Creek) and didn’t see any new glide avalanches. The glide avalanche that released on Seattle on Monday 12/31 was not visible or easy to see.

(1/3/18 at 8am) – We receive a report of a large remote triggered avalanche on Seattle creek drainage that occurred sometime yesterday (1/2.) Limited info at this time, but several folks mentioned it was 4′ deep. We are collecting more details today.

Red Flags
Red flags are simple visual clues that are a sign of potential avalanche danger. Please record any sign of red flags below.
Obvious signs of instability
Recent Avalanches?Yes
Collapsing (Whumphing)?No
Cracking (Shooting cracks)?No
Observer Comments

Some blowing snow was seen along ridge tops between 1pm - 2pm, SW wind loading North aspects.

Report of a remote triggered avalanche in Seattle

Weather & Snow Characteristics
Please provide details to help us determine the weather and snowpack during the time this observation took place.
Weather

Mix of rain/snow in Girdwood and Portage at sea level, up to an inch of accumulation at road level
Overcast becoming partly cloudy by the afternoon
Temps at road level were 31F and temps near ridge tops was dropping throughout the day to low 20Fs
Winds were light along the road, but winds picked up into the 20mph's for an hour or two in the afternoon along ridge tops

Snow surface

1-2" of light snow on moist melt layer at road level

Snowpack

See N. Champion's observation from Sunburst today

Photos & Video
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