Olympics

A wetted upper snowpack will receive more rainfall Saturday night, resulting in lingering wet snow instability into Sunday. If you encounter pushy, wet snow, be cautious around or above terrain traps. Wind slabs may develop along upper ridgelines if more snow arrives than forecast during the day.

 The Hurricane Ridge area can expect a cautious transition from warm and wet, to cold (and initially) mostly dry. The warm, damp, and windy transition will bring around 0.1" of rainfall, mostly in the early morning hours on Sunday. This could temporarily exacerbate any lingering wet instabilities, but we think that rapidly cooling temperatures early in the day and moderate winds will limit this problem quite rapidly. We're expecting less than an inch of new snow to fall with some redistribution into table-top thick slabs on Sunday in the immediate lee of ridgelines on Sunday. No single avalanche concern will be significant enough to warrant a specific problem, but it's worth having the potential concerns on your radar in case the weather or avalanche conditions deviate from the forecast.

The forecast could be too low if: 

1. You're in an area where the upper snowpack remains mushy, easily pushable, and 4-6" or more of snow entrains easily on steep slopes. A lack of a surface crust forming in your terrain should give be your hint to evaluate the wet surface snow. If you encounter these conditions, steer clear of longer open slopes 35 degrees and steeper.
2. You encounter glide cracks (with their telltale brown frown) or encounter a glide avalanche on smooth underlying slopes. We generally don't expect enough precipitation for this problem around Hurricane Ridge or the eastern Olympics, but you might have this issue deeper in the range. If you find evidence for this problem, limit your exposure under suspect slopes and features.
3. Wind slabs may form on the lee slopes of the highest ridgelines if more snow falls than forecast after temperatures cool. If you encounter slabs 6" or thicker, steer around slopoes under fresh, sharp wind lips.

4-6" of recently dry snow that fell Wednesday warmed up Friday afternoon and received rainfall. This snow was moist, punchy, and consolidating as of Saturday (as were plow debris piles). ONP Rangers noted large pinwheels on Saturday, indicating the potential for wet loose avalanches, but none were observed. A recent 3/4 crust has dissintigrated with the warm temperatures. Below that interface, you're likely to encounter a thick layer of dense, previously dry snow. 

 On 3/5, ONP Rangers in the Klahanie Bowl area found the facets to be rounding, but did not find the surface hoar in either of two snow pit locations. The rounding facets just above the 2/13 crust had enough of a cohesive slab above to produce minimal reactivity in PST tests, showing improvement relative to last week. The breaking down of the 3/4 crust does leave open the door for a rider to impact these layers more. While we don't expect these layers to wake up, it may be worth a look before committing to larger, steep open slopes if you don't find find a surface crust forming in your terrain on Sunday. Persistent slabs are notorious for surprising backcountry travelers; they break more widely across the slope and can be triggered from lower-angle terrain than run-of-the-mill storm slab avalanches. Whumphing was observed in the NE Olympics around Baldy on 3/1. This was a clear sign that these layers held some reactivity at the time. Several natural avalanche crowns from from late February were visible in the Hurricane Ridge area and also the Bailey Range and likely resulted from the previously weak snowpack structure. 

Lower elevations have melted out once again in the Hurricane Ridge area.  Middle elevations have lost significant coverage in the last few days, particularly on sun-exposed slopes. Many aspects remain thin, presenting travel obstacles.  Travel cautiously in these areas to avoid injury.  

This is an unusual snowpack setup for the Olympics and we need your observations! Share what you see with us, we love photos and clear descriptions. Read the neighboring Cascade zones to see how persistent slabs and an extended period of strong winds are leading to dangerous conditions in many areas.