East Slopes North

Milder temperatures will push past the Cascade crest and into the eastern part of the zone Wednesday.   Besides variable surface conditions, you may encounter isolated wet loose avalanches on sunny slopes below rocks.  Continue to limit your time below slopes with large overhanging cornices.  

If you try you can probably find a bit of everything snow surface-wise;  firm and potentially slick crusts,  sun softened snow on steep southerly aspects, surface hoar on shaded aspects, and pockets of wind-stiffened snow at higher elevations.  The biggest change from Tuesday to Wednesday weather-wise will be an increase in mid/upper mountain temperatures, especially further east in the zone which has often been cooler than near and west of Washington Pass this week.  This may lead to isolated wet loose avalanches on very steep sunny slopes.  Observers have reported cracking cornices and open glide cracks.  Continue to limit your time below these overhead hazards as this sunny and seasonally mild stretch of weather continues.  At lower elevations, you'll encounter steep temperature inversions and areas of valley fog/stratus that have been a hallmark of this pattern.  Mazama has dipped into the low teens/upper single digits every night since Friday night.    

Shifting moderate ridgeline winds have also been a consistent part of the story since the weekend.   That said there isn't much snow to redistribute after several days of sunny and mild weather at mid and upper elevations.  While you can likely find older areas of wind drifted snow below ridgelines, you're unlikely to trigger a wind slab.  In areas sheltered from the sun and wind, you'll find approximately 6 inches of settled snow from Thursday's storm (1/20) above the most recent crust near and to the west of Washington Pass.  A series of crusts can be found in the upper snowpack (see photo). Further east, less snowfall accumulated last Thursday.   

A few small wet loose avalanches were observed over the weekend.  On Friday 1/20, observers noted a number of natural and triggered wind slab avalanches. These avalanches ranged from small to large and were generally found above treeline on leeward slopes near and west of Washington Pass.