West Slopes Central

Prepare for travel in avalanche terrain by having the appropriate rescue gear, training and experience. Pay attention to signs of instability like recent  avalanche activity and only expose one person at a time to slopes steep enough to slide. Thick wet snow can make for challenging travel and still produce small avalanches in very steep terrain. Steer around pockets of wind-drifted snow in alpine terrain.

Strong winds and new snow will build shallow pockets of wind slab at upper-elevations. Look out for fresh wind slabs big enough to knock you over and carry you down the slope if there are more than a few inches of new snow. Actively drifting and blowing snow will show you where these are forming. The snow level is forecast to drop to 5500’ by the end of the day. You'll probably need to be above this elevation to find a wind slab.

Very warm temperatures and periods of rainfall have already wetted the snowpack at mid-elevations. Another day of light rain probably won’t do much to increase avalanche danger.Still, there is plenty of wet, manky snow out there. Rocky, cliffy terrain (that still holds snow) can produce small avalanches. Cutting across very steep slopes could unleash a volley of pinwheels that consolidate into an avalanche. Some pinwheels can grow large enough to be a hazard unto themselves. Lower-angled terrain offers the easiest travel through very wet or crusty snow.

A team in the Hidden Lake Peaks area found wet snow up to 6000' with pockets of drier, wind-drifted snow above that elevation. They were able to trigger a single small loose wet avalanche in alpine terrain. 

A lean, well-consolidated snowpack that has seen too much water is found in many parts of West Central. At mid-elevations, it consists of alternating layers of melt forms and crusts from surface to ground. Snow depth averages a few feet. Minimal to no snow is found at lower elevations.

You might find a drier, more layered snowpack at upper elevations and also farther east in the zone (Cascade Pass, Glacier Peak, etc), that likely saw less rain and cooler temperatures over the past week. Only a few observations were submitted from this type of terrain in the last week. If traveling up in the alpine or near the Cascade Crest, prepare to make your own observations and adjust your plan as necessary.