East Slopes South

Avalanches are unlikely, and a primarily stable snowpack that undergoes a daily melt-freeze cycle exists. While you might be able to find a pocket of unstable wet snow on steep sunny slopes, challenging travel on icy surfaces will be the primary hazard until the sun or afternoon temperatures soften the surfaces. 

On Saturday, forecaster Andrew Kiefer was out in the Ahtanum area of the East South zone and found a strong and stable snowpack that had settled into a daily spring-like melt-freeze cycle. Unfortunately, many southern aspects and ridges melted out to bare ground, clear evidence of the unusually warm temperatures. Thankfully the inversion has preserved some snow at lower elevations, so the riding conditions and groomed trails are still decent travel. Sunday will be another unseasonably warm day that starts with an inversion that mixes out towards the afternoon. A change in the weather pattern will also bring increasing mid-level clouds into the area later in the day. With the potential for clouds in the forecast, it will be a delicate balance between the warm temperatures softening the snow surfaces or the cloud cover keeping surfaces frozen. With this in mind, expect variable and challenging travel conditions that may last into the afternoon hours, even on southern aspects. While the snowpack resembles spring-like conditions, it may still be possible to trigger wet loose avalanches on isolated terrain features, such as very steep rocky slopes in direct sunlight. Monitor surface conditions as you travel, and if you find wet unconsolidated snow deeper than your boot top, it might be time to move to shadier terrain.