Sawtooth & Western Smoky Mtns

Mostly stable avalanche conditions exist, and avalanches are unlikely. You could find small, thin pockets of drifted snow in wind-exposed terrain. Small loose snow avalanches are possible on very steep slopes. 

Avalanche conditions are generally stable. It's been 6 weeks since we've received significant snowfall—one of the longest winter droughts I can remember. Despite this dry spell, most of our area is still hovering around normal snowpack for this time of year—but a few stations are starting to dip below average. Fortunately for us, when our last major storm ended on January 7th, we were sitting at nearly 150% of normal. With so little snow over the past month and a half, wind and temperature have been the primary drivers of avalanche conditions. However, these factors alone have not been sufficient to produce widespread dangerous conditions— the avalanche danger has been LOW in all zones for 22 out of the last 24 days!

Although avalanches are unlikely, we would never suggest you turn your brain off while traveling in the backcountry. This is especially true in high-consequence terrain where getting knocked off your board(s) or machine, or getting taken for a ride by even a small slide, would be dangerous. Although there are no clearly-defined avalanche problems, here are a few things to keep in mind: 

LOOSE SNOW AVALANCHES: You might be able to trigger small, loose snow avalanches in very steep terrain. Direct sunshine could produce small, natural loose snow slides on aspects on the southern half of the compass. As the day heats up, monitor the thickness and strength of the crusts you're traveling on. If you find yourself punching through into a shallow, wet snowpack it's time to find gentler terrain or cooler snow to ride.  

WIND SLABS: Triggering an isolated, thin wind slab is something I continue to think about when traveling in consequential terrain. During this prolonged dry spell, the wind has frequently drifted snow onto weak surfaces (facets or icy surfaces). On more than one occasion over the past several weeks, folks have been surprised to trigger small wind slabs. When traveling in wind-exposed terrain, pay close attention to the look (ripples, waves, and other surface texture) and feel (stiff, hard, and/or "drummy" feeling) of the snow to identify wind slabs. 

Be sure to catch up on what happened this past week in Scott's latest Weekend Update.