Register for an account and never miss a forecast again!
RegisterRegister for an account and never miss a forecast again!
RegisterJan 2nd, 2016–Jan 3rd, 2016
.
Watch for isolated areas of wind slab primarily on north through southeast aspects above treeline and for terrain traps on steeper slopes throughout the terrain.
The recent clear weather should give way to increasing clouds and a return to a few light showers, especially late Sunday at still cool temperatures. The areas near the crest, east of the passes and approaches to the passes will remain cool.
This weather will continue to allow the older wind slab to slowly settle and stabilize. Wind slab will most likely be found on north to southeast aspects near and above tree line. Any wind slab avalanches should be confined to surface layers and cool temperatures east of the crest will slow the stabilizing of these layers. East winds were much lighter east of the crest since Thursday and will likely not have built new wind slab on westerly aspects. Watch and test for inverted strong over weak storm snow.
A cool and snowy storm cycle brought 2-4 feet of snowfall to the east slopes the week ending December 24th. Light additional accumulations over the past week have allowed the snowpack to slowly settle and good skiing and riding conditions have been reported in non-wind affected terrain.
Recently, separate observations from NWAC observer Tom Curtis in the Blewett Pass backcountry and Icicle Canyon area as well as North Cascades Mountain Guides report generally a right-side up snowpack in non-wind affected terrain with widespread surface hoar and near surface faceting in sheltered areas in all elevation bands. Isolated pockets of wind slab are still thought to exist in the above treeline zone. Loose dry avalanches are still possible on steeper slopes, whether potentially triggered by skiers or on solar slopes by sunshine.
Tom was west of Blewett Pass at Iron Mountain Friday and found a buried surface hoar layer 60 cm down that showed sudden collapses in column tests with a firm slab overhead. In this area, the layer was prevalent on NE-E aspects around 5300 ft near treeline. There were not any recent skier or natural triggered avalanches on this layer, but it may be a layer of concern to track or look for moving forward in this specific area.
The southeast zone has a shallower snowpack versus areas further north, but after a snowy few weeks, has more than enough snow to warrant an avalanche risk. No snowpack observations have been received from this zone.