Now get our bulletin and daily weather forecast on facebook and twitter
Please support the Center. Your donations are important to keeping this program going and bringing you more resources in the future.
Please support the Center. Your donations are important to keeping this program going and bringing you more resources in the future.
Bulletin Summary 4-12-13 by Allen Giernet The season is not done yet read the Bulletin below for recent information from the San Bernardino mountains.
Always remember variations do exist due to aspect, elevation, slope angle and geographical location. These are samples from various areas and attention to the particular terrain you are traveling in must be applied. If you have any information from the field please submit it to us. Exercise caution when traveling in avalanche terrain using this information as only part of the puzzle. Be sure to use all other avalanche information and your observations. If you are not sure if you are in avalanche terrain then enroll in advanced avalanche education and know before you go. |
|
National Ski Patrol Avi 1
course join us next season Awareness and
|
|
weather
6 - 17 -13 Slightly warmer today with mostly clear to clear skies and winds will be rather mild and increase afternoon to evening. Things will be much the same all week with minor fluctuations in temperature and winds will have gusty periods mostly afternoon to evening. The end of the week into the weekend will see some gradual warming but nothing significant on the weather front. For more details check each areas forecast and weather stations for most current information.
|
General Caution
You should always use safe terrain management and carry avalanche rescue equipment in the backcountry. Most avalanches are triggered by someone in the party or the victim. Practice with your rescue gear often and be prepared should the worst happen. Though we do not have an avalanche forecast center in this area as of yet, the information posted and shared here as well as the resources available on this site will help to make informed decisions for your backcountry travels. Use avalanche forecasts in your travels wherever available and be aware that avalanche ratings are general information. Elevation, location, geographic variability’s, slope aspect and angle all have effects on the particular area you travel in. This is only one piece of the information you should use in your decision making process. There is no substitute for avalanche education, for more resources and information as well as education please refer to our resources page.
Most recent observations and information will be posted here: Full Reports
|
Observation type- Snowpack
Location (general area)- Mt. San Gorgonio North face Date (yyyymmdd)- 20130407 Time- 11:00am Comment- The surface snow is turning to corn but still mixed with icy patches. Due to the cloud cover was not significant warming to truly soften the snow. I did several quick pits on the way up no full data pits. Profile: -Surface - corn and crust -Upper layer about 15cm well consolidated -Below this loose rounding facets -Below this layer to ground loose rounds and many areas had no rounding facet layer Lots of melt out snow only holding on higher elevation northern aspects. Most snow areas remaining are melted out near the summits. There's still plenty of snow on the northern drainages, and with the warming we had after this visit a good chance of more corn. The run was fun mixed crust and corn. Mt Jepson is holding good snow on the northern slopes as well. A second hand report from a hiker on the trail out had encountered 2 splitboarders the had road Jepson bowl and reported icy conditions. The season is not done yet but the best bet is higher elevation Northern aspects in the San Bernardino's since the got more snow all season long. Full Report Here |
Observation type- Snowpack
Location (general area)- Kratka Ridge area Date (yyyymmdd)- 20130317 Time- noon Comment- Snow pack appears to have somewhat refroze last night. Conditions were variable from corn to fairly firm with icy crust in tree sheltered areas. Snow pack profile (this was below a tree sheltered area on a slope that does not see much direct sun) Temp. Gradient surface loose corn ⇓ to 55cm 4F 1mm-.5mm rounds (wet) 53cm 1°c 55 ⇓ 48cm 1F .5mm rounds (wet) 43cm .5°c 48 ⇓ 35cm F 1mm rounds (wet) 33cm 0°c 35 ⇓ 25cm 4F 1.5mm rounding facets (wet) 23cm -.5°c 25 ⇓ hard ice to ground with refrozen chunks 13cm -.5°c of facets at the base about 1 to 2 cm Gnd 0°c High water content all layers 2 tests CTV Q2 16cm⇓ both blocks failed on isolation. They appeared to fail on the interface at 48cm between the 1F and Fist layer, area was very loose with a high water content so I suspect it was well lubricated and had very little adhesion. there seemed to be no propagation but later in the afternoon as things continued to warm there's a good chance this interface would have produced wet slides. Late morning things were loose enough to get some good turns in. Get it earlier than later. there was enough snow depth that with selective turns I never hit anything and the pack was still fairly firm. Leaving around 1:30 the lower was softening into mashed potatoes. Watch for wet slides. Full Report Here |
Observation type- Snowpack
Location (general area)- Near Mt Baldy resort Date (yyyymmdd)- 20130309 Time- 10:48 a.m. Comment- Two ECT tests were performed #1 ECT 6 Q3 on new snow interface, ECT22P 50cm ⇓ Q2 on wet facets #2 ECT 5 Q3 on new snow interface, ECTN probably a false stability due to foreign influence on the snow pack here. The snowpack in this area had a temperature gradient in the upper 30cm with an isothermic snowpack to the ground. The facets were wet and rounding. Signs of wind loading following the last storm were evident on mostly Southerly aspects. When we returned the following day the winds had changed directions and we could see the transported snow being redistributed around the mountains mostly on the Northerly aspects. There was some soft slab formations with the wind transpoerted snow. We saw pinwheels develop later in the day at lower elevations. Full Report Here |
