East Slopes South

A warm and cloudy day is in the forecast, and while avalanches remain unlikely, you may see isolated rollerballs or small wet loose avalanches in very steep terrain. Many lower elevations have little snow, and access to upper elevations is challenging. Higher elevations with continuous snow have variable rough and icy surfaces, creating significant travel hazards. 

Friday will likely start cold, with freezing levels increasing to around 6000ft by the end of the day. Most areas have rough surfaces with thick crusts or a very thin snowpack. However, you may see some rollerballs or very isolated pockets of small wet loose avalanches in steep rocky terrain at upper elevations as temperatures increase throughout the day. 

If you travel into the upper elevations, take note of the surface conditions. A storm is forecasted to impact the region on Sunday. Therefore, it will be important to track any weak snow and slick crusts as they may become buried and create slab avalanche problems. If you are out in the mountains, let us know what snow surfaces you find by submitting an observation.

The latter part of this particular winter hasn't brought much snow to the East South zone. It is approaching a point where low elevations have little to no snow, and you can expect challenging travel on rough, icy surfaces in areas with continuous snow. Access to higher elevations with a more robust snowpack may require travel over dirt and bare ground for significant distances, and utilizing summer trails may be the best option. An observer near the Bumping Lake area found little snow below 5500ft and dust-on-crust conditions above that. Travel cautiously, especially at lower elevations, to avoid impacts with rocks or stumps, and falls into holes.