East Slopes Central

Another sunny, chilly day is in store for Saturday. The most likely challenge that you'll encounter will be from travel on breakable crusts and icy surfaces. Use caution in steep terrain where a slip or small amount of sluffing snow could lead to an uncontrolled fall. 

Friday brought highs in the mid-20s and sun. Aside from low-elevation valleys, southerly slopes stayed cold and frozen in most locations. You can expect similar weather for Saturday.

The 13-15th brought a small round of wet avalanches with sun and warming temperatures. The 16th was a cold and windy day that froze the wet snow surfaces. At upper elevations, in steep, unsupported terrain, there's a slim chance that you could trigger an isolated chunk of overhanging cornice or a small piece of older wind-drifted slab. This is also the same terrain where a small avalanche could have high consequences, so consider this potential before stepping out into more complex, aggressive terrain. 

On Thursday, NWAC forecasters in the Salmon La Sac and Mission Ridge area experienced windy conditions but no wind slab formation and minimal avalanche hazard.  Observers in other parts of the zone reported drifting snow that mainly resulted in ground blizzards but no notable wind slab formation. Observations from the Teanaway area indicated a weak snow layer beneath a melt-freeze crust in the upper snowpack. We don't expect this layer to be an issue until more snow arrives.

The warm, sunny weather over the past few days formed a melt-freeze crust on the surface of southern aspects, and even northerly aspects at mid-elevations warmed on Wednesday and could now have a very thin crust. Shady slopes also now harbor a layer of large surface hoar over these melt-freeze crusts from the clear nights. Upper elevations are a mix of stiff wind-affected snow and melt-freeze crusts. Some northerly low elevations that stayed cold below the inversion still might hold soft snow. You're more likely to encounter challenging travel over crusts and refrozen "coral reef." 

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