Snoqualmie Pass

A few inches of light, fluffy snow shouldn’t do much to affect the avalanche danger. If the sun comes out, you may see small loose avalanches as snow sheds from rocks and trees. These slides shouldn’t be large enough to hurt you unless you’re in extreme terrain.

Much colder temperatures and some moisture should result in a few inches of low density snow by Tuesday morning. This should be a nice touch of winter! This adds to the 4-6 inches of recent storm snow that fell around Valentine's Day. Even though we’re expecting generally safe avalanche conditions, there are a few things to keep on your radar. 

There’s a good chance the sun makes a meaningful appearance on Tuesday. When that happened on Saturday, it resulted in several natural loose avalanches, but it also left a ¼ inch breakable crust on many sunny slopes. That little crust, combined with the cold temperatures and low density snow, should help limit the size and scale of this round of loose slides. Even still, the few inches of new snow from overnight will almost certainly roll downhill in small sluffs. 

This isn’t a particularly breezy storm, but in more wind prone areas, the new snow could drift into small, shallow slabs. These dinner table sized avalanches likely won’t be much of a concern unless they catch you by surprise above a cliff. 

The upper snowpack has become rather aspect and elevation dependent. 

• Down low, a few inches of cold, dry snow caps a messy but strong snowpack of stout crust and mushy melt forms. 
• On sunny aspects, the recent snow is capped by a thin breakable crust that formed on Saturday. A few inches deeper, you’ll find the more robust and possibly icy 2/13 crust. 
• In shaded terrain, a foot or so of soft snow covers the first prominent crust (2/7). Hiding in this softer snow is the 2/13 interface. A few observations have found buried surface hoar and/or facets at this interface, but they’ve been few and far between. The only notable avalanche on this layer occurred at Alpental on Saturday, when a wind slab likely failed on facets in unskied terrain. 

The new snow certainly is a welcome sight, but, sadly, it hasn’t done much for coverage. In some cases, the new snow sits over bare ground or rocks. Open creeks, random holes, and exposed obstacles mean many common routes simply “don’t go.” Give yourself extra time to deal with the laundry list of travel challenges you may face.