East Slopes South

Slick travel conditions and variable coverage will likely be your greatest hazards on Thursday. However, keep an eye out and consider steering around steep sunny slopes if you notice the surface crust breaking down and see rollerballs. 

Thursday should be a transition day for the East South before we make a switch back to winter. As the day progresses, look for an uptick in wind speeds and light snow/rain showers increasing during the afternoon hours. The most significant precipitation will arrive Thursday night and into Friday. While unlikely, the sun may poke out for brief periods of time, so if it does look for warming snow on solar aspects. Consider avoiding steep solars if you notice the crust breaking down or see signs such as rollerballs and pinwheels. 

NWAC forecaster Katie Warren traveled in the Ahtanum Meadows area on Tuesday. She found a widespread thin crust that extends to ridgeline, a shrinking snowpack at lower elevations, and found the valentines day interface gaining strength. 

Light snow fell above 4000 ft on Tuesday with only a dusting of snow accumulating above the crust in the Ahtanum Meadows areas. North of Bumping Lake, you might find 1-2" of snow accumulating above the crust. E winds may have drifted shallow slabs onto upper elevation slopes on the western half of the compass. These might catch you off guard in extreme terrain features if you find an isolated pocket 6" or deeper.

Spring-like conditions exist below 4500 ft. Be prepared to cool your snow machine frequently given anticipated freeze-thaw conditions at these elevations. You might be able to trigger a small wet loose avalanche on sunny slopes at these elevations once the snow surface softens.

If you get out into the mountains of the East South, let us know what you see by submitting an observation!