January 18, 2006 

This is Jim Fitzgerald from the Payette National Forest Avalanche Center with the 
avalanche advisory for Wednesday January 18th, and an outlook for Thursday and 
Friday. This advisory is brought to you with the help of Idaho Department of Parks and 
Recreation.

The avalanche danger today is estimated to be High. High danger means that natural and 
human caused avalanches are likely. Unstable slabs exist on a variety of aspects and 
slope angles. Travel in avalanche terrain is not recommended. This danger rating expires 
at midnight on Wednesday, January 18th.

A cold front pushed it's way through our reporting area on Saturday night giving the 
mountains around 6 inches of snow, much colder temperatures, and a shift in the wind 
direction. The wind changed from a southerly direction to a northerly one and wind 
speeds reduced from last week. Low temperatures fell to the teens in the valley and single 
digits in the mountains. This turn about in weather helped to solidify the snow pack. 
Sunday through Monday afternoon skies partially cleared as we got a reprieve from all of 
last week's precipitation. 

The lull in precipitation did not last for long as Tuesday morning we woke up to another 
5 inches of snow and a heavy snow warning for the mountains until early Wednesday 
morning. Winds shifted around coming out of the south east during the early part of the 
storm cycle, then out of the south west later in the afternoon, yesterday. Wind speeds 
were sufficient to transport snow - with northerly aspects getting the brunt of the wind 
transported snow. Temperatures rose yesterday, during the storm, creating an inverted 
snow pack. Easy failures were initiated within the new snow as the rising temperatures 
created a denser layer over the colder, weaker snow layer that fell during the early part of 
the storm cycle. As the winds worked their way around from east to west we saw new 
soft slabs form on east, south, and west aspects. These slabs failed easily under the 
weight of a ski. Our mountains have received over two feet of snow in the last 48 hours. 
The Secesh snotel site is reporting an impressive 4.5 inches of snow water equivalant 
(swe) since January 15th. The bottom line is that we have had a tremendous amount of 
load - put on a weak layer - in a short amount of time. 

Current Conditions

Temperatures have started to fall as a cold front enters our reporting area bringing the 
possibility of numerous snow showers for the remainder of the day. Winds have also 
decreased as the large winter storm has moved east of us. Currently temperatures in 
McCall are 32 degrees with light snow falling. Upper elevations are at 22 degrees with 
light winds out of the west and snow falling.