Avalanche Forecast
Regions: Cascades - East.
Freshly formed wind slabs should persist primarily on leeward westerly facing slopes, especially open slopes near and above treeline. Also, watch for cross-loaded slopes and lingering wind slab on a variety of aspects. Avoid travel on steep terrain with firmer wind transported snow and avoid freshly loaded slopes in all elevation bands.
Detailed Forecast
High pressure should cause a clear, cold night Wednesday and a sunny day Thursday with light winds and cold temperatures. There has been low density snow available for recent transport and with the expected cold temperatures, wind slabs will be slow to settle and stabilize.Â
The fresh wind slabs should be primarily on lee South-West-North aspects. However, also watch for cross-loaded slopes and lingering wind slab on a variety of aspects. Watch for firmer wind transported snow and avoid freshly loaded slopes in all elevation bands.
The wind slab problem compass indicator below shows loading for the recent dominant wind direction, but other areas may have experienced other loading pattern, so be alert in all terrain for wind deposited snow.  Â
Small loose dry avalanches are possible in steep wind sheltered terrain, but will not be listed as an avalanche problem.Â
Continue to identify the 12/17 and less deeply buried PWLs in snowpits and avoid areas where the overlying snowpack is shallower where affecting these layers would be more likely.
Snowpack Discussion
Weather and Snowpack
A cold and dry Arctic air mass was over the Northwest last week. The main weather event during this cold snap was a day of strong east winds last Wednesday that created widespread variable snow surfaces by scouring windward slopes and re-distributing the snow to a variety of aspects.
Reports indicate the winds eliminated most of the faceted surface snow and surface hoar that formed in the near and above treeline during the cold weather. But these weak surface crystals were still reported below treeline prior to snowfall that fell over the weekend.
A pair of warm fronts moving through the PNW Sunday and again Sunday night allowed some relatively milder Pacific air to finally work its way east of the crest Sunday evening and night. 3-8Â inches of snow fell through Monday morning along the east slopes.Â
A weak low pressure system, tracking across southern Washington Tuesday morning produced 1-5 inches of snow in the central to southeast Cascades with the most seen at the Lost Horse and Potato Hill Snotels in the southeast Cascade zone. East or Northeast winds were increasing Tuesday afternoon with another round of light snow developing over the southern Cascades.
Snow showers deposited another 2-4 inches early Wednesday in the southeast Cascades zone, with little or no snow in the north and central.Â
Recent Observations
On New Years Day reports from multiple snow pits by the Mission Ridge pro-patrol indicated that basal facets remained intact but were showing signs of rounding and bonding. Mission Ridge experienced a whopper of a snow storm on Jan 2nd when unusual reverse orographic flow produced about 34 inches of new snow along with strong northeast winds.Â
A report for Friday 1/6 via the NWAC Observations page for Red Mountain in the central east zone indicated a 10-20 cm deep surface layer of faceted surface snow and surface hoar in the below treeline band. A wind slab also gave a triggered collapse on a ridge top.
The Mission Ridge pro-patrol on Saturday reported that the deep low density heavy snow from early last week had greatly consolidated and stabilized.
The NCMG were out on Delancey Ridge on Saturday and found that snow from a week ago had settled and stabilized. Weak surface layers were noted with surface hoar in the below treeline. The small wind slab was noted in the near and above treeline which was not reactive.
The NCMG were in the Hairpin Valley Monday and observed a natural loose cycle that likely occurred Sunday night. While a couple of storm layers were identified in snowpack tests, the only other direct sign of instability was a small wind slab triggered by cornice fall that again likely occurred Sunday night.
NWAC pro Tom Curtis was in the Icicle Creek area Wednesday and pulled the plug on continuing a tour due to the conditions observed. The sound of a natural avalanche rang out loudly in the valley Wednesday morning. It was estimated the slide released from a more westerly aspect near tree line. Other concerning observations included finding a reactive buried thin crust with faceted crystals below and a 25-35 cm 4F slab above. Cracks were shooting from skis and snowpit tests also indicated human triggered slab releases would be likely in this area so a retreat to ski another day was the safe call. Â
Avalanche Problems
Wind Slabs
Release of a cohesive layer of snow (a slab) formed by the wind. Wind typically transports snow from the upwind sides of terrain features and deposits snow on the downwind side. Wind slabs are often smooth and rounded and sometimes sound hollow, and can range from soft to hard. Wind slabs that form over a persistent weak layer (surface hoar, depth hoar, or near-surface facets) may be termed Persistent Slabs or may develop into Persistent Slabs.
Wind Slabs form in specific areas, and are confined to lee and cross-loaded terrain features. They can be avoided by sticking to sheltered or wind-scoured areas..
Wind Slab avalanche. Winds blew from left to right. The area above the ridge has been scoured, and the snow drifted into a wind slab on the slope below.
Wind slabs can take up to a week to stabilize. They are confined to lee and cross-loaded terrain features and can be avoided by sticking to sheltered or wind scoured areas.
Aspects: North, South, South West, West, North West.
Elevations: Alpine, Treeline.
Likelihood: Likely
Expected Size: 1 - 1
Persistent Slabs
Release of a cohesive layer of soft to hard snow (a slab) in the middle to upper snowpack, when the bond to an underlying persistent weak layer breaks. Persistent layers include: surface hoar, depth hoar, near-surface facets, or faceted snow. Persistent weak layers can continue to produce avalanches for days, weeks or even months, making them especially dangerous and tricky. As additional snow and wind events build a thicker slab on top of the persistent weak layer, this avalanche problem may develop into a Deep Persistent Slabs.
The best ways to manage the risk from Persistent Slabs is to make conservative terrain choices. They can be triggered by light loads and weeks after the last storm. The slabs often propagate in surprising and unpredictable ways. This makes this problem difficult to predict and manage and requires a wide safety buffer to handle the uncertainty.
This Persistent Slab was triggered remotely, failed on a layer of faceted snow in the middle of the snowpack, and crossed several terrain features.
Persistent slabs can be triggered by light loads and weeks after the last storm. You can trigger them remotely and they often propagate across and beyond terrain features that would otherwise confine wind and storm slabs. Give yourself a wide safety buffer to handle the uncertainty.
Aspects: All aspects.
Elevations: All elevations.
Likelihood: Unlikely
Expected Size: 1 - 1