West Slopes North

Be prepared for firm snow in the morning that softens as the day warms up.  Put a buffer between you and large overhanging cornices when traveling along ridgelines.  Don't linger beneath smooth, steep, rocky terrain where isolated glide avalanches may release without warning.   

In the morning, be prepared for firm surfaces and make sure you have the proper traction tools before crossing steep, firm, or even icy slopes.  As the day warms up, larger human or natural wet loose avalanches are unlikely, but you may still see small natural wet loose avalanches releasing below sunny rocky terrain.  Later in the day, if you find yourself sinking into wet, mushy snow deeper than your ankle, move to lower angle terrain or different aspects.  Make sure to evaluate the consequences of a smaller slide near terrain traps.   

Assess the slopes you're traveling near or under.  Give yourself a healthy buffer while traveling in known glide terrain, anywhere you see glide cracks (the brown frown), or just blocks of snow clinging to steep rocky terrain.  Blocks of snow can release without warning as we move back and forth between spring and winter-like temperatures.   When traveling along corniced ridgelines, make sure to leave a healthy buffer between you and the edge.  They can surprise travelers by breaking further back than you expect. 

After 3 days of above-freezing temperatures,  cooler weather arrived late Monday night and Tuesday.  The change in the weather led to firm surface crusts in the morning, observed on all aspects in the Mt Baker backcountry (and good corn skiing by mid-day), as well as by a group in Boston Basin.  Clear skies and cool-ish temperatures Tuesday night should help surface crusts re-form overnight on all aspects.  Warmer weather on Wednesday will help those crusts break down once again, but it's unlikely to drastically raise the avalanche danger.  You may find drier softer snow hanging on in higher elevation, shady terrain.   

On Monday, NWAC forecasters found surface crusts breaking down quickly and the snow becoming wet and mushy on southerlies on Goat Mt.  A stiff breeze likely helped limit wet loose activity at higher elevations and windward aspects.  By looking around, you'll see evidence of a wet loose avalanche cycle that started Thursday afternoon and Friday, with reports of small wet loose slides becoming less frequent over the weekend and Monday.   

There is hardly any snow below 3500'.   Be prepared for inconsistent snow coverage until you're above 4000-4500', and even then, it's aspect dependent.