Snoqualmie Pass

Thursday’s storm will make it hard for any frozen surface to soften. Instead, you’ll need to manage a variety of snow conditions and exposed obstacles. Some of these slopes may even be very slick and icy.

This little storm shouldn’t bring much in the way of new snow to the Pass. Instead, cloudy skies and strong winds will only make challenging travel conditions harder. The recent weather pattern created a wide variety of snow surfaces. Icy slopes, breakable crusts, pockets of powder, wet heavy snow, and wind-textured features have all been reported. Warm and sunny weather took its toll on the snowpack exposing rocks, trees, and creeks all across the mountains. While Valentine’s Day brought a few inches of new snow, it wasn’t enough to significantly change the travel conditions nor drive avalanche concerns. So, on Thursday the greatest risk you face may come from navigating these variable conditions and exposed obstacles. 

With the few inches of recent snow and forecasted strong winds, if you’re going to find an avalanche issue, it will likely be in wind-loaded snow. Any wind slabs should be very thin and isolated to a few exposed ridges and rock-walled gullies. Keep your eye out for wind-textured snow and smooth drifts to anticipate where these small slabs could occur. 

On Wednesday an NWAC forecaster traveling at the Pass reported about 4” of snow over the Valentine’s Day crust. Thin low clouds and sunshine quickly softened southerly slopes and even produce a few very small loose wet avalanches and rollerballs. As these slopes went back into the shade they rapidly developed a breakable surface crust. If there’s a silver lining to the recent weather pattern, it’s that it created a very strong and well-settled snowpack. So, even though you may still find the Late January Facet-Crust combo in some areas, we expect any avalanche activity to remain at or above the more recent Valentine’s Day Crust. 

As we head into a more active weather pattern this weekend, we could use your help. We want to know what the snow surface is like prior to Saturday’s storm. Send us your observation and pictures of the snow surfaces you find. Thanks for your support!