BY KAREN BOSSICK
The Sawtooth Avalanche Center will conduct its final program in its inaugural Digging Deeper Series on Wednesday.
Forecaster Ethan Davis will forecast Spring Avalanche Conditions at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, April 10, at The Elephant’s Perch in Ketchum.
The free presentation will look at what snow conditions to anticipate and offer online resources to reference after the Sawtooth Avalanche Center closes for the season.
While there is more snow at lower elevations right now than there was in the snowy winter of 2016-17, there is less snow at higher elevations.
Speakers at Thursday’s flood meeting said cool and wet weather over the next two weeks may hinder melting, with peak flows from the Big Wood River expected around June 6.
The Della View neighborhood in Hailey will likely have a river running through it at some point. But city officials hope that culverts and other measures they have been taking will cut the duration of the flow, feeding the water back into the river quickly.
It remains to be seen, too, just how the Della View avalanches that ran into the river during February will impact flooding.
May and June are expected to be rather wet and July and August dry and hot.
Meanwhile, avalanche forecasters say we’re om the midst of an atmospheric river in the Wood River and Sawtooth valleys. With warming temperatures and significant amounts of rain and snow, avalanche danger is expected to increase with wet snow problems at lower elevations and wind slab problems at upper elevation.