Snoqualmie Pass

While you may see piles of new rollerballs occur on steep sunny slopes Wednesday, these shouldn’t pose much risk to you as a backcountry traveler. Instead, your greatest danger may come from navigating the variable travel conditions and numerous exposed obstacles.

The biggest change to the snowpack on Wednesday will come from the possibility of significant sunshine. While there were a few breaks in the clouds on Tuesday, the Pass stayed generally socked-in. As a result, the new snow should have remained dry at mid and upper elevations where temperatures were cooler. So, if the sun comes out, you may see piles of new rollerballs on steep southerly slopes. While there’s a slight chance for loose wet avalanches, the minimal recent snow should limit the potential size of any possible slide. Even still, if you see this obvious clue, be leery of similar slopes especially if you’re traveling in high consequence terrain. 

The recent sunny and warm weather significantly altered the snow surface. Rocks, trees, and creeks reemerged from the snowpack. Icy slopes, rough crusts, and frozen wind textured snow formed during this period. Unfortunately, this recent snow probably didn’t do much to improve on these variable travel conditions. So, the greatest hazard you face may come from navigating the variety of snow surfaces and shallowly buried obstacles. 

If there’s some positive news about the current snowpack, it’s that the repeated melt-freeze pattern created a well-settled and very strong snow structure. So, while you may find lingering layers of weak snow (Late January Crust-Facets), we don’t expect any avalanche issues to occur below our most recent interface (Valentines Day Crust). Currently, we do not have any layers of concern deeper in the snowpack.