Register for an account and never miss a forecast again!
RegisterRegister for an account and never miss a forecast again!
RegisterApr 4th, 2017–Apr 5th, 2017
.
Difficult and dangerous travel and avalanche conditions will develop in the back country on Wednesday where careful snow pack evaluation and cautious terrain choices will be essential.
Heads up because winter isn't done yet and the quiet weather and snowpack seen the past couple days is going to see significant snow and rain depending on location on Wednesday!
A front will stall over the Northwest on Wednesday with a series of waves moving south to north along the front. This should cause periods of moderate to heavy rain or snow on the Washington volcanoes especially Mt Baker with light to moderate rain or snow in most other areas. Precipitation should fall as snow in the above treeline and perhaps down into the near treeline zones.
New storm slab should build in the above and perhaps down into the near treeline in most areas and will be deepest where there is the most new, rapidly accumulating new snowfall. New storm slab should be very touchy especially if there is a daytime warning trend.
Loose wet avalanches should be seen in most areas in the near and below treeline. Watch for wet surface snow deeper than a few inches, pinwheels and initial natural releases that indicate an increasing loose wet avalanche danger.
Recent cornices are very large and will get new loads on Wednesday. Natural cornice releases and resulting slab avalanches are dangerous and unpredictable. Give cornices a wide berth if traveling along ridge-lines and avoid slopes below large cornices. See a blog post regarding cornices here.
New wind slabs won't be added to the lengthy list of avalanche problems on Wednesday but should also build in the above and perhaps down into the near treeline in most areas and will be deepest where there is the most new snowfall. New wind slab should also be very touchy especially if there is a daytime warning trend.
Weather and Snowpack
March was wet and wild for weather and avalanches in the Cascades.
The last major system in March was seen Tuesday and Wednesday. Another 5-10 inches fell near the Cascade crest along with a warming trend and increasing W-SW alpine winds. Lesser amounts were seen further east of the crest and at lower elevations.
Cooling and showery weather Thursday allowed wet snow to begin refreezing with light amounts of new snow in most areas. The winds diminished Thursday and combined with daytime warming, this has allowed for wind slab and storm slab to begin stabilizing.
A weak front crossed the Northwest on Saturday morning, causing light rain mainly along the Cascade west slopes. This was followed by an upper trough on that caused some light amounts of snow mainly along the Cascade west slopes at much cooler temperatures on Sunday.
Fair but cool weather has been seen in the Olympics and Cascades Monday and Tuesday. Reports generally indicate strong surface or near surface crust layers and shallow recent snow.
Recent Observations
North
The NCMG were in the Cutthroat area on Monday 3/26 and found 15-20 cm of recent snow on a firm base. Loose wet avalanches and cornices were the main concerns.
On Tuesday 2/27, the NCMG in the Highway 20 Hairpin area found that ski and hand tests indicated good bonds of recent snow to previous snow. Loose wet avalanches were the main concern at lower elevations. Touchy or stubborn wind and storm slab, and cornices were still expected near and above treeline.
An observation via the NWAC Observations page here from the Washington Pass area on Tuesday 3/27 reported small ski triggered 10 in wind or storm slab on steep E slopes near a ridge line.
Central
No recent observations.
South
No recent observations.