West Slopes South

Expect generally safe avalanche conditions on Thursday, with crusty surfaces, high winds, and poor visibility posing the main challenges. If you venture out during the windstorm, watch for blowing snow and avoid lee slopes where it is being deposited. 

Wednesday was the crescendo of this warmup in the West South. Under mostly clear skies, temperatures soared over 50 degrees at the upper elevations throughout the zone, while remaining quite a bit colder if you were under the inversion. White Pass Pro Patrol reported boiling temperatures in the sun, while Crystal Pro Patrol noted some isolated wet loose avalanches. NWAC forecasters at Mount St. Helens noted soft snow all the way to the top with minimal avalanche concerns. Very little recent snowfall and these warm temperatures should have stabilized any lingering avalanche issues within the snowpack. 

This next system brings high winds, very little snow, and a rapid cool down. The decrease in temperature and sun will put any wet avalanche concerns to bed, and we are unlikely to see significant new wind slab formation with such anemic snow totals. If you venture out tomorrow, you will be in the mountains while any potential slabs are being built. That should make things straight forward. If you see blowing snow, avoid steep lee slopes where that snow is being deposited.

Travel conditions are rough right now, and they will get even more challenging. Crusts are widespread, even on northerly aspects up to 6500'. On slopes facing the sun, expect a crust all the way to the top of the mountain, whichever mountain you find yourself on. Low visibility, high winds, cool temperatures, and variable surfaces won't make for a very pleasant day on Thursday. We try to point folks in the direction of the good and safe snow. While there will likely be plenty of safe snow on Thursday, good snow could be hard to come by!