The advisory for urban avalanches in Juneau has been lifted for winter.
The city’s avalanche advisories are updated each morning during the winter. However, as spring approaches Juneau the city won’t be able to post daily warnings.
The Emergency Programs Manager of the city Tom Mattice says he’ll keep monitoring the conditions until the winter snow has gone away and would send out a specific alert if the unusual weather pattern of spring increased the danger of avalanches to dangerous levels.
“If there is a chance that we have any kind of massive unusual event, I will put in the extra effort of communicating to the public using all the channels accessible,” he said in an interview.
This means that alerts will be sent via additional channels, like radio alerts as well as a statement by the National Weather Service.
In his final blog post, Mattice warned that ending the advisory doesn’t be a sign of the end of avalanche danger.
Its style=”font-weight 400 ;”>”If there’s mountain snow, then avalanches are possibility,” he wrote.
The possibility of Avalanche activity along trails like the Flume or Perseverance trails will increase as temperatures rise, particularly at the end of the morning and the afternoon.
The Juneau avalanche advisory is only for urban areas. Mattice’s final advisory urged those who travel in the backcountry to be cautious. The spring storms are likely to boost the risk of avalanches in higher altitudes.
