Avalanche Forecast

Wednesday should be cool with scattered showers developing in the afternoon, especially near the Cascade crest. 

Lingering wind slab should be less sensitive Wednesday but evaluate recent snow carefully before committing to steeper terrain. Wind slab will mostly likely be found on NW-E-SE aspects near and above treeline. 

Loose wet avalanches will not be indicated as an avalanche problem but watch for loose wet surface snow if you find yourself on solar slopes during sunbreaks.

Weather and Snowpack

Hopefully the last atmospheric river of the season arrived Valentine's Day 2/14 through Thursday 2/16 along the Cascade east slopes. An avalanche cycle occurred Wednesday night in the northeast zone and Thursday for lower slopes and areas further east of the crest in the central-east zone. 

In the northeast zone the NWAC station at Washington Pass received about 10-14 inches of moist snow over a thin freezing-rain crust formed early in the storm cycle.  In the central-east and southeast zones, light rain likely reached up about 5-6000 feet in the central-east and up to about 7000 feet in the southeast zone. Fair and sunny weather on Friday 2/17 formed a sun crust on solar aspects.

Light amounts of new snow accumulated over the weekend. A low pressure system tracking across the south Washington Cascades during the day on Monday brought a few inches of new snow to the central-east and southeast Cascades. A slight warming trend was observed during the storm Monday.

Light snowfall seen mainly in the southeast Cascades Tuesday morning transitioned to light showers in the afternoon. Mostly cloudy conditions were seen in the central-east and northeast zone with a warming trend at lower elevations in the afternoon.    

Recent Observations

North

The NCMG were out near Washington Pass on Sunday and reported that ski tests on steep features gave no results and that wind slab was generally unreactive. A size 2.5 slab, 1 m x 200 m crown was seen on a north aspect at 7200 feet that probably released after cornice fall on 2/15.

On Monday, the NCMG observed a fresh and large storm slab that was triggered by cornice fall mid-day above treeline in the Hairpin Valley on a NNE aspect near 7000 feet. No other avalanche activity was observed. The slab averaged around 40 cm to the most recent crust.  

Central

NWAC observer Tom Curtis was at Jove Peak on Monday and found the recent snow generally bonding well to the Valentine's Day crust. Some previous wind slab was apparent below ridgelines near treeline. The possibility for skier triggered loose wet avalanches increased around mid-day during a slight warming trend.  

South

No recent observations.