Stevens Pass

Sunday will be a transition day, with increasing stormy weather by the evening. Watch for isolated pockets of wind drifted snow at upper elevations or wet snow at lower elevations where you could trigger a small slide. You may encounter increased avalanche concerns in fresh snow if you're out in the late afternoon. 

A storm system will move inland Sunday evening. We don't expect it to be that impactful during the day, but if it moves faster than we expect, small storms and wind slabs could be possible in the evening hours. Temperatures will remain mild overnight with cloudy skies, so another poor refreeze could allow for small wet avalanches at lower elevations. Moderate winds could form isolated shallow wind slabs at upper elevations on steep lee slopes. Watch for active drifting or cracks shooting away from your equipment to identify unstable wind-drifted snow. Temperatures will cool overnight on Sunday, bringing a welcome return to snow at Stevens Pass. 

The snowpack underwent a significant transition after the warm atmospheric river event at the end of February. Since then, a few inches of snow accumulated, quickly melting and freezing into a crust in sunny terrain. Northern aspects at upper elevations still hold soft, dry snow over a supportable crust and more pleasant travel conditions.  Lower elevations and South, West, and East aspects harbor thick, melt-freeze crusts that soften during the day. During the storm, there were notable large slab and wet avalanches throughout the zone. We suspect the rain/snow line was between 6500 and 7000ft during the storm, and since significant liquid water moved through the snowpack and there have been multiple freeze-thaw cycles since then, we don't have significant concerns about more deeply buried weak layers. 

If you make it into the backcountry, please share with us what you find by submitting an observation HERE or on the Avy app.