The Bottom Line: Expect the warmest temperatures of the winter, so far. Warming, sun, and uncertainty of how the snow will respond at upper elevations is keeping the danger heightened. If you are heading to higher slopes, use caution on slopes 35 degrees and steeper.
Snow and Avalanche Discussion
With warming and sun, uncertainty about the snowpack is increasing. Most loose wet avalanches you will see are a few days old. Watch for wet avalanches if you see soft, wet snow on sunny slopes and at low elevations.
About 13†of snow, followed by rain on Tuesday night and Wednesday led to a widespread natural avalanche cycle throughout the Cascades. Many large paths in the area ran including Wellington, Highway Chutes, Lichtenberg Southeast side, Arrowhead Northeast Bowl, The Swath, and likely others. It rained up to around 5,500ft. Check out the Regional Synopsis tab for details on the storm and avalanche activity.
Yep, that's avalanche terrain. A slab avalanche in Wenatchee Bowl next to numerous loose avalanches. These slides ran on January 23rd in recently fallen snow. Stevens Pass. Photo: Josh Hirshberg
Avalanche Problems
Persistent Slabs
While they are hard to trigger, persistent slab avalanches can be dangerous. With the warm temperatures and recent load, there's uncertainty about if you can trigger these avalanches at upper elevations. The best approach is to pick smaller pieces of terrain, and minimize exposure to large avalanche paths until more information is gathered.
A layer of surface hoar, buried on January 17th, should be 2 to 3 feet down from the surface. The main elevations of concern for it the weak layer are above 5500ft. Digging in the snow and using snowpack tests can help you confirm if it exists. Try not to make decisions on single tests or snow profiles.
