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Don’t despair: despite the 40+ degree temps and strong winds, it may actually be a boon for the Western #Chugach #snow season. We hadn’t had a significant wind event prior to this one, which meant more snow where it normally isn’t and less snow where it normally is. Besides needing the wind to fill in typical catchment areas, we need it to pack snow in around sharks that are normally buried, and expose sharks that normally aren’t. As for the warm temps, don’t forget about snowpack temperature gradient pertaining to stability: warm temps generally promote benign (stability enhancing) metamorphism of #snow grains within the snowpack. The aforementioned said, this is a more long term optimistic outlook. In the short term, the snowpack is currently being stressed by precip, wind, and rapid warming. Give the snowpack some time to adjust once better weather moves in. In the meantime, pursue other forms of #EarthEcstasy. There’s still good adventure to be had in the #backcountry!

A post shared by Anchorage Avalanche Center (@anchorage_avalanche_center) on Jan 1, 2019 at 3:01am PST