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Professional Observation

Basic Information

Observation Details

Observation Date:
January 31, 2025
Submitted:
January 31, 2025
Observer:
TAC - Andy Bond
Zone or Region:
Taos Area
Location:
Wind Loading Up High

Signs of Unstable Snow

Recent Avalanches? 
Yes
Cracking? 
Isolated
Collapsing? 
Isolated
Was not finding the new snow to be as reactive as yesterday below and near treeline. Some of this could've been from most slopes releasing naturally yesterday.

Media

Natural avalanches on the east aspects of Vallecito. Most likely happened overnight from loading of the slope from strong NW winds (Taos Ski Patrol Photo)
East slopes being loaded from moderate winds this afternoon. Winds are expected to ramp up tonight through the weekend.
This below treeline north facing slope ran naturally sometime yesterday 1/30 during the storm The Crown is well uphill out of sight.

Advanced Information

Weather Summary

Cloud Cover:
Clear
Temperature:
22-34
Wind:
Light , SW

Sunny day, that felt downright hot by the afternoon even though temperatures were only just above freezing. It's already that time of year when our intense southern latitude sun heats up the snow surface quickly. Above treeline we had moderate SW winds that were easily transporting snow onto East aspects.

Avalanche Observations

 #  Date Location Size Type Bed Sfc Depth Trigger Comments Photo
1 Past 24 hours East Facing Slopes above East Fork
E 		D2 SS O-Old Snow N-Natural
East facing slope above treeline that most likely started as a wind slab and stepped down into deeper weak layers near the ground. It most likely ran sometime last night with strong NW winds loading the slope. The crown has been drifted in but you can see where it started on the right side of the photo

Above 10,500' it looks like we had a pretty extensive avalanche cycle on north facing aspects below and near treeline. It seems like 35 degrees and steeper was the sweet spot for avalanche activity. These avalanches were mainly small Size 1 and occasionally getting into depth hoar layers below. We were finding these avalanches to typically be about 10 - 100 feet wide. Above treeline, last night's wind event produced a couple of more recent natural avalanches that we observed today.

It's not often you observe 5 different avalanche types in one day, but we had wet loose, dry loose, storm slab, persistent slab and wind slab avalanches all happen today!

Snowpack Observations

Storm slabs were not as reactive as yesterday but we were still getting shooting cracks and collapses at all elevations in travels today. Near treeline we were finding some effect of last nights winds with stiffer more cohesive slabs. Above treeline we were finding active loading and stiffer firmer wind slabs.

Winds are expected to ramp up tonight through the weekend and there is a bunch of snow available for transport. I'd expect slabs to stiffen and get deeper in the next day near and above treeline. We saw some east facing slopes above treeline release naturally stepping down into deeper weak layers. I'd expect this trend to continue tomorrow.

The low-density new snow was settling quickly at lower elevations and taking heat on the solar aspects from our intense sun at our southern latitude in the U.S. I would think that by the end of the weekend after the big warm up, southerly aspects will most likely be back to bare ground.

Terrain Use

Went out on a walk to check out the extent of yesterdays avalanche cycle as well as what above treeline terrain looked like after last night's strong winds.

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