Stevens Pass

Travel conditions have improved in the past week, while avalanches remain unlikely. For Thursday, you can expect light wind, colder temperatures, and a dusting of snow. Be prepared for open holes near creeks and boulders, and very firm surfaces under thick trees and on steep slopes.

Ongoing cold temperatures are keeping the surface snow light and weak. On steep, smooth slopes, check how easily the surface snow slides. Small, loose avalanches may be getting easier to trigger. If you travel near exposed ridges or above 6,000ft, be on the lookout for recently drifted snow. Winds may have been gusty enough on Wednesday to form shallow drifts at upper elevations. While any avalanche would be very small and isolated, it could push you around if you're not paying attention.

On Tuesday, an NWAC forecaster outside the Stevens Pass ski area boundary found plenty of weak snow surrounding a couple of crusts in the upper snowpack. We have limited information from upper elevations, above 6,000ft. If you travel there, we'd love to have your observations!

Layers beneath the upper 6-10" of the snowpack aren't contributing to the current danger. With the passing of each day, the upper snowpack is weakening. In the event of some distant storm that delivers a solid foot or more of new snow, it's likely that we'll have very reactive avalanches on a widespread weak layer over a crust.

On shaded, less sun-exposed slopes, there's 4-8" of soft, dry snow with a layer of weak facets and surface hoar (February 13th) in the lower portion and immediately above the uppermost, thin (February 8th) crust. About 10" below the surface, you'll find a very stout, thick layer of frozen, icy melt forms that resulted from warm temperatures, wet snow, and rain in late January and early February. On sunny, southeast through southwest slopes, there are numerous recent crusts, including one just beneath the surface. Upper elevations will likely have a greater separation between crusts, with potentially more weak snow between them.

There are still significant travel hazards out in the mountains, particularly in lower elevations and forested areas. Open creeks, bare ground, and exposed rocks are all things you might have to contend with to get into the more pleasant conditions above about 5500ft.