Central Cascades

Watch for signs of unstable snow in isolated and extreme terrain.

The Central Cascades forecast zone received about 10 cm (4") of snow early in the week that fell on a melt freeze crust formed during the previous period of high pressure. Wind slabs formed during and after the storm have largely become nonreactive to triggering. The snow surface has quite a lot of variablility right now ranging from shaded pockets of preserved powder, old wind slabs, wind scoured  crust, and some areas of crust over soft snow. 

Beneath the melt freeze crust a layer of faceted snow has been found in pockets of shaded terrain.  The faceted snow is patchy in distribution and will likely round and gain strength with the warm days to come.

The mid and deep snowpack are strong.