East Slopes South

Wednesday will be the warmest and sunniest day of the week thus far. Isolated areas close to the Cascade Crest may still hold recent dry snow at middle and upper elevations, which will be easily influenced by sunshine. If you're sinking deeply into moist, mushy snow, consider that a wet loose avalanche could be triggered in very steep, extreme terrain.

Since 01/28, the Bumping Lake weather station accumulated nearly 3 inches of precipitation, and the Green Lake station accumulated close to 1 inch. This is typical for the zone to see considerably more precipitation closer to the Cascade Crest. It is also typical for precip to drop off significantly from the west side of the Crest as storms track east. White Pass, in particular, picks up significantly more precip than Bumping Lake, despite them being fairly close as the crow flies. If you are traveling in areas very close to the Crest, it could be worth your time to check out the West South forecast. This NWAC Instagram post, although older and not necessarily representative of current conditions, does a great job of further explaining this difference.

Most of this recent precip likely fell as rain, but at least some of it fell as snow at upper elevations at one point or another. Although we have no new snowpack information for the zone, you can use simple observations to check for any instability. Triggering rollerballs or micro avalanches on steep terrain features and punching deeply through moist snow indicate wet snow hazard. Newly textured surfaces, fresh drifts, and cracking in dry snow indicate wind slab hazard. While wind slabs should not be widespread, small, fresh slabs may have formed on the downwind side of ridgelines or cross-loaded gullies at the highest elevations. Any of these hazards will be more present the closer you are to the Cascade Crest.

As you move east, away from the Cascade Crest, you probably won't find enough snow to warrant much avalanche hazard. After three weeks of high pressure, the snowpack became highly aspect-dependent. East, south, and west facing slopes hosted melt-freeze crusts of varying thickness, while northerly aspects were a mix of thin crusts, near-surface facets, and old firm drifts. There's a good chance that it's all much less variable now, and the snowpack - where it still exists - is all moist and more cohesive. Low elevations and steep sun-exposed terrain remain thin, patchy, or completely melted out.

Observations from this zone would be valuable if you’re getting out—please share what you’re seeing.