Update: Flood watch ends on North Olympic Peninsula; beware of avalanches in Olympics
Published 12:01 am Thursday, March 31, 2011
The flood watch for North Olympic Peninsula lowlands was removed by the National Weather Service today.
However, the following avalanche warning for the Olympic Mountains remains in effect:
OLYMPICS-
WASHINGTON CASCADES-
MT HOOD AREA-
830 AM PDT THU MAR 31 2011
…AVALANCHE WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 8 PM PDT THIS EVENING
FOR THE WASHINGTON CASCADES…OLYMPICS…AND MOUNT HOOD AREA…
WE ARE CURRENTLY IN THE MIDST OF THE FIRST MAJOR WARM EVENT WITH
HEAVY PRECIPITATION TO HIGH FREEZING LEVELS SINCE MID FEBRUARY. MOST
WEST SLOPE AREAS HAVE RECEIVED 2 TO 4 INCHES OF WATER IN THE PAST 24
HRS WITH STORM TOTALS OF GREATER THAN 6 INCHES IN AREAS. THIS HAS
CAUSED A SIGNIFICANTLY INCREASED AVALANCHE DANGER AS RAIN OR HEAVY
WET SNOW OVERLOADS THE SIGNIFICANT SNOW RECEIVED SINCE LATE
FEBRUARY…THE CURRENT DANGER RATING IS EXTREME…THE HIGHEST LEVEL
OF AVALANCHE DANGER. THE POTENTIAL FOR LARGE AND DESTRUCTIVE
AVALANCHES WILL CONTINUE UNTIL COOLING AND DECREASING PRECIPITATION
RATES OCCURS…EXPECTED BY THURSDAY EVENING. THERE WERE SEVERAL
LARGE NATURAL AVALANCHES CROSSING HIGHWAY TWO NEAR STEVENS PASS
EARLY THURSDAY MORNING PROMPTING A PASS CLOSURE…AS WELL AS A VERY
LARGE NATURAL AVALANCHE ON MT HOOD WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON. DURING THIS
PERIOD WE ARE URGING ANY WOULD-BE BACKCOUNTRY TRAVELERS TO AVOID ALL
AVALANCHE TERRAIN UNTIL CONDITIONS IMPROVE.
THIS STATEMENT WILL BE UPDATED AS CONDITIONS WARRANT. PLEASE VISIT
WWW.NWAC.US FOR DETAILS.
PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS…
BACKCOUNTRY TRAVELERS SHOULD BE AWARE THAT ELEVATION AND
GEOGRAPHIC DISTINCTIONS ARE APPROXIMATE AND THAT A TRANSITION
ZONE BETWEEN DANGERS EXISTS. REMEMBER THERE ARE AVALANCHE SAFE
AREAS IN THE MOUNTAINS DURING ALL LEVELS OF AVALANCHE DANGER.
CONTACT LOCAL AUTHORITIES IN YOUR AREA OF INTEREST FOR FURTHER
INFORMATION.
NWAC WEATHER DATA AND FORECASTS ARE ALSO AVAILABLE BY CALLING
206-526-6677 FOR WASHINGTON, 503-808-2400 FOR THE MT HOOD AREA,
OR BY VISITING OUR WEB SITE AT WWW.NWAC.US.
