East Slopes North

Avalanche conditions are generally safe. You may shallow drifts of snow above 7,000ft. Expect another day of cool temperatures and light precipitation. 

At the highest elevations, you may be able to find very shallow drifts of snow. We don't anticipate that these are thick enough to present a risk of wind slab avalanches. On Friday, expect another inch of snow with cloudy skies. Winds will generally be light, though upper elevations could see some moderate northerly gusts.

Since Tuesday, 2-4" of snow has fallen. Cooling temperatures have helped the upper snowpack freeze after the warm temperatures of the weekend. On Tuesday, WDSOT forecasters and road crews continued their work to clear Highway 20, Washington Pass. They saw natural loose wet avalanches to size D2 on steep rock slabs. They also triggered some smaller wet avalanches with large explosives. Notably, they weren't able to trigger cornices that still loom over sunny slopes.

The snowpack is relatively simple. Warming temperatures in the past week drove wet loose avalanches, creeping higher in the terrain each day. The 3/22 crust is the prominent layer about 1 foot below the surface on high elevation and shaded slopes. On the 31st, observers on Silverstar Mtn assessed the crust and found little concern with it. If you dig about 3 feet below the surface, you can find remnants of old crust/weak layers, though they are no longer a concern for avalanches.