After a week that delivered up to three feet of snow in parts of Colorado, combined with wind gusts topping 70 mph, the Colorado Avalanche Information Center (CAIC) is warning of dangerous avalanche conditions expected to persist through the weekend.
Forecasters say many slopes across the Northern, Central, and Southern mountains are prime for human-triggered avalanches. The new snow fell on top of a historically shallow snowpack riddled with weak layers formed during earlier dry spells, and those layers are now failing under the added weight.
Colorado is currently transitioning from an intense storm cycle into what’s expected to be a bluebird weekend, with the fresh snow creating what could be a high backcountry demand.
CAIC expects a high likelihood of human-triggered avalanches, with slides breaking 2-4+ feet deep. There’s a high probability of triggering avalanches from a distance as well, with red flags including collapsing, cracking, and recent avalanche activity.
“Weather events move from west to east through the western United States, and avalanche accidents often follow a similar pattern. It has been snowing and blowing all week in Colorado. With tragic accidents in California on Monday and Utah on Wednesday, we are warning people about dangerous avalanche conditions in Colorado this weekend.” – CAIC Director Ethan Greene.
Roughly 80% of avalanche fatalities in Colorado happen when danger is rated MODERATE (Level 2 of 5) or CONSIDERABLE (Level 3 of 5), ratings that can give backcountry users a false sense of security. Additionally, about 70% of fatal avalanche accidents in the West occur within four days of a previous avalanche fatality.
Backcountry users are urged to check the latest forecast at Colorado.gov/avalanche before heading out and make conservative terrain choices.
