East Slopes South

It is unlikely, but if enough rain falls to reawaken previously wetted and weak layers of snow within the snowpack, triggering a wet snow avalanche will become somewhat feasible. You'll know there's a chance of this happening if you begin penetrating deeply into the snowpack and you move around. Don't linger under large hanging masses of snow along ridgelines, especially if they're drooping. Lower elevations lack sufficient snow coverage for avalanche hazard to exist at this time.

Strong overnight refreezes have limited wet avalanche activity in recent days. The snowpack is also struggling to exist in East South altogether. An NWAC forecaster traveled to Bethel Ridge on Sunday and didn't hit snow until 5000 ft. Where snow does still hang on, surfaces were refrozen and supportable throughout much of the day. There was a bit of lingering moisture further down in the snowpack from last week's wet weather. Evidence of previous warming was abundant; plenty of wet loose avalanches, wet slab avalanches, and cornice fall could be found. Another public observation from Nelson Ridge reported a large wet slab avalanche that likely ran this past week during the natural avalanche cycle (observation here).

There is still lingering moisture in the snowpack below the stiff surface crusts, but it would take a lot of new precipitation to make its way down. Precipitation the East South zone is not forecasted to get on Tuesday. So, although you'll likely be getting rained on while you're out, we don't expect this rain to make much of a difference in avalanche hazard. That being said, if you do begin to punch deeply through surfaces, note that the rain is permeating deeper than expected. While triggering a large wet slab avalanche would be highly unlikely at this point, it should still be on your radar where you find a sloppy, wet snowpack in big terrain.

Take your time as you travel around. Open creeks, holes, dirt, downed logs, rocks, etc are easily found throughout terrain. Where there is snow, surfaces could be firm, rough, and unforgiving if not softened by the rain.

Last week’s rainstorms decimated the East South snowpack. You can still find rideable snow at mid and upper elevations. Below 5,000 ft, snow coverage is too limited for avalanche danger at this time—so we’re issuing a No Rating for lower elevations.

Are you heading out? Let us know what you see by submitting a public observation here or on the AvyApp.