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The Chugach National Forest Avalanche Information Center is predicting a high risk of avalanches in areas south of Anchorage. They say deep snow along Turnagain Arm, and the Chugach and Kenai mountains is resting on early-season weak snow pack.
Alaska Department of Transportation crews used large cannons to mitigate the avalanche risk along the Seward Highway Wednesday. Officials say the small slides they create can prevent the formation of a large, uncontrollable avalanche.
“What we're delaying with is, we got a bunch of cold, dry-faceted snow with a lot of warm dense slabby snow on top," said Matt Murphy, an avalanche specialist with DOT. "So we're trying to stay ahead of the game and do some preventative maintenance in our avalanche paths before the next storms come in.”
The Chugach information center predicts that avalanche danger will increase with warm weather as several feet of new snow settles into dense slabs.
Contact Dan Carpenter