West Slopes North

Look for and assess pockets of wind-drifted snow before moving into steep and consequential terrain. With a sunny day in the forecast, you could see wet avalanches peel off the warmest slopes, especially in unsupported, alpine terrain. Low danger doesn't mean no avalanches - be ready to change plans if you find more signs of instability or avalanche activity than expected.

West North picked up an angry inch or two of new snow overnight Monday accompanied by strong southerly winds. Look for fresh wind slab on the leeward side of upper elevation ridgelines, especially on the high alpine peaks like Shuksan or Baker. Keep an eye out for the usual signs of wind transport like scoured ridgelines, fresh drifts and wind lips, and slabby, dense-looking snow. Assess for wind slab before stepping into steep terrain, and move cautiously onto slopes with consequence instead of diving right in.

Look for signs of instability like rollerballs, cliffs shedding snow, or small, fresh wet avalanches as the day warms. If you repeatedly see signs of instability, then assume the avalanche danger is likely a bit higher and limit time spent on or below steep sunny slopes and cliffs. An NWAC Forecaster in West Central reported that high, south-facing alpine faces continued to shed snow and cornices despite a lack of fresh wet avalanche activity at other elevations. 

The combination of slab and wet snow avalanches reported over the weekend and Monday quickly tapered off with the return of cloud cover and cooler temperatures the past few days. Instability at storm layer interfaces quickly resolved, even in areas where avalanches were reported to have failed on a layer of surface hoar that was buried on Jan 2nd. As usual, you may find different snowpack variables as you head into bigger or less traveled terrain.

The snowpack is topped with breakable crust on southerly aspects at all elevations and even shaded ones up to 5000-6000'. The most notable snowpack observation came from West Central, where weak snow had developed over the surface crust from a few days ago and was then capped by another crust.