Avalanche Forecast

Moderate and steady snow levels and insignificant amounts of new snowfall will decrease the overall avalanche danger Monday along the east slopes of the Cascades.

However, moderate and very gusty winds Sunday night through Monday morning continued to form fresh wind slabs on a variety of aspects and elevations, which in some cases have been identified below treeline. Wind slabs are still only 24-48 hours old by Tuesday and may exhibit variable reactivity so avoid steep wind loaded slopes on any aspect. 

Large cornices exist along ridgelines. Cooling temperatures will make cornice failure less likely, but continue to give cornices a wide berth and avoid travel directly below corniced slopes.

The avalanche hazard will be lower in areas receiving less precipitation further east of the Cascade Crest.

Gusty winds continued to blow snow around on Monday, continuing to creating wind slabs on all aspects and into the below treeline zone in some locations.

Moderate to strong westerly winds at crest level built new wind slabs in the near and above treeline terrain in the northeast Cascades over the weekend. Precipitation was heaviest near the Cascade crest with precipitation rates quickly decreasing further to the east. Little snow was available to transport in areas further south of Holden. Over the weekend and peaking on Sunday, the snow level rose to 5800-6800 feet in the northeast Cascades, and was likely slightly higher further south and east. Wet snow conditions were noted near and below treeline along the Hwy 20 corridor with a wet loose cycle noted below 5500-6000 feet Sunday. 

A natural avalanche cycle has been reported in many areas from Monday’s (1/29) warm and wet weather. Rain occurred along the east slopes as far north as Holden, WA.

Scattered observations from the last week of January found buried surface hoar on top of the 1/16 crust. This persistent weak layer was found or thought to be the cause of several avalanches. Extra caution should be taken when traveling in areas further east of the crest where this layer may survive. Snow profiles and snowpack tests are the only means to identify and locate this layer.

Observations

North

On Monday, snow professionals in the Washington Pass area reported a recent maximum rain/snow line of 6,800 ft. Subsequent snowfall prevented much refreezing of the wet snow. Winds were unusually gusty and variable with no dominant wind direction and some wind slab was present into the below treeline zone. The party triggered a small wind slab quite low in the terrain. They messaged a high level of uncertainty regarding reactivity and location of wind slabs in this zone. Glide activity was also evident to 6000'.

On Sunday, snow professionals at the Barron Yurt near Hart's Pass reported stormy conditions with denser snowfall increasing the likelihood for storm slabs during the day due to rising temperatures in and around the 6000' level. Moderate winds were continuing to transport snow onto lee slopes near and above treeline. No deeper instabilities were noted in snowpack tests. Observations were limited in this terrain due to poor visibility. On Sunday in terrain further to the east, a wet loose cycle was noted below 6000'. 

On Saturday, snow professionals at the Barron Yurt near Hart's Pass reported about 6" of new snowfall over the preceding 24 hours. Touchy wind slabs were present near and especially above treeline with moderate to strong W-SW winds transporting new and recent snow onto lee slopes. Storm slabs were generally unlikely to trigger. The 1/16 crust was 4 to 5 feet down. Similar conditions were reported Friday in this area. 

Central

An avalanche professional traveling in Icicle Creek Thursday found 6-8” of settled snow well bonded to the 1/29 crust. Observations demonstrated a strong upper snowpack. No buried surface hoar was found in this location.

On Tuesday, Mission Ridge Pro Patrol identified several layers of concern in this regionally shallower snowpack. These layers should be watched during future loading events. Similar basal weak layers were found in the nearby shallow snowpack of Blewett Pass.

South

No recent observations