Avalanche Advisory: Wednesday - Jan 13, 2021

THIS AVALANCHE ADVISORY EXPIRED ON January 14, 2021 @ 6:33 am
Avalanche Advisory published on January 13, 2021 @ 6:33 am

Issued by Chris Engelhardt - Eastern Sierra Avalanche Center

Bottom Line

How to read the advisory

Thank you to all those who were able to join ESAC Forecasters on Wed Jan 13th from 6-7:30 pm for a free evening of Virtual Backcountry Travel Education! For those that were unable to attend, the event was recorded: Click here to view the event!

LOW Avalanche danger exists today. Be on the lookout for unstable snow on isolated terrain features particularly in complex or extreme terrain. Poor coverage and obstacle ridden conditions remain the greatest hazard.

1. Low

Above Treeline

Generally safe avalanche conditions. Watch for unstable snow on isolated terrain features.

1. Low

Near Treeline

Generally safe avalanche conditions. Watch for unstable snow on isolated terrain features.

1. Low

Below Treeline

Generally safe avalanche conditions. Watch for unstable snow on isolated terrain features.

Avalanche Problem 1: Normal Caution

Type ?

Sticky snow, rock fall, and trapdoor conditions in shallow areas may be some of the biggest hazards today as very warm temperatures with limited overnight freezing levels impact our area. Although conditions are relatively benign it doesn’t mean that you can’t find isolated pockets of instability in areas. Extreme terrain may still harbor panels of old wind slab that have been dis-connected to residing snowfields by eroding winds. Current conditions warrant consideration of your Risk vs. Reward. Surface conditions are extremely variable with the whole gamut of surfaces from sticky residual powder in sheltered trees, to firm wind affected boiler plate, unsupportable faceted snow, and breakable surface crusts. The plethora of obstacles and your exposure to them remain the biggest hazards, where even a small fall or slide could prove to be really dangerous.

advisory discussion

Desert activities or home projects may be a good call Wednesday with temperatures spiking and the current state of the snowpack (or lack thereof) remaining quite challenging. Lower elevation snow surfaces the past few days has become quite grabby and unpleasant and that will likely be even worse today.

recent observations

Submit Snowpack Observations

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1/12 – Mammoth Area – 9300’ snow conditions– Settlement

1/11 – Lee Vining Area – Kidney Couloir –Solar gains on due south aspects, sticky snow lower

1/10 –Mammoth Rock – Minaret Vista – snow conditions

1/10 – Mammoth Area- Hammil Bowl–ECTP at tree line

Weather and CURRENT CONDITIONS

weather summary

Wednesday will start out mostly cloudy and transition to partly cloudy conditions as the day progresses with warm temperatures and moderate Westerly winds. Our warm streak will continue to elevate with highs increasing to 52degF in the lower mountain elevations and up to 44degF in the Upper elevations. Velocities for upper elevation westerly winds will be 15-30mph with gusts of 55mph decreasing to 40mph in the afternoon. A sunny and downright warm weekend is on tap. What happened to winter?

Two-Day Mountain Weather Forecast Produced in partnership with the Reno NWS

For 8,000 ft. to 10,000 ft.

	Wednesday	Wednesday Night	Thursday
Weather:	Mostly cloudy then becoming partly cloudy	Clear.	Sunny
Temperatures:	42 to 52 deg. F.	29 to 35 deg. F.	44 to 52 deg. F.
Mid Slope Winds:	West around 15 mph with gusts to 40 mph	Northwest around 15 mph in the evening becoming light. Gusts up to 30 mph	Light winds becoming northwest around 15 mph with gusts to 35 mph in the afternoon
Expected snowfall:	0 in.	0 in.	0 in.

Over 10,000 ft.

	Wednesday	Wednesday Night	Thursday
Weather:	Mostly cloudy then becoming partly cloudy	Clear.	Sunny
Temperatures:	36 to 44 deg. F.	29 to 35 deg. F.	36 to 44. deg. F.
Ridge Top Winds:	West 15 to 30 mph. Gusts up to 55 mph decreasing to 40 mph in the afternoon	Northwest 15 to 25 mph with gusts to 40 mph	Northwest 15 to 30 mph. Gusts up to 35 mph increasing to 45 mph in the afternoon
Expected snowfall:	0 in.	0 in.	0 in.

Disclaimer

This Avalanche Advisory is designed to generally describe avalanche conditions where local variations always occur. This product only applies to backcountry areas located outside established ski area boundaries. The information in this Avalanche Advisory is provided by the Eastern Sierra Avalanche Center, who is solely responsible for its content.