Avalanche Forecast

Continued cooling temperatures will help refreeze the upper snowpack, which should allow light snow showers to begin accumulating dry snow Wednesday night. At this time, neither forecast winds nor precipitation amounts Wednesday night look impressive. If we get more snow and more wind than we expect overnight, then expect shallow wind slabs to develop. Otherwise, we expect generally safe avalanche conditions. 

You should travel with the usual precautions and remember that we don’t have our normal January snowpack this year. A very shallow snowpack exists below 4000 ft. You may also find a refreezing crust that could make navigating steeper slopes challenging.

A major storm brought 1.63” of water equivalent since it began on Tuesday morning at Hurricane Ridge, but most of that water came as rain. Snow levels rose right as precipitation arrived on Tuesday and was “blowing sideways” and mixing with sleet at times. The rain continued overnight with temperatures peaking Tuesday evening then dropping to near-freezing temperatures throughout the day on Wednesday. Some light snow showers added less than an inch of snow and generally melted into the slushy snow surface.

Forecast Schedule

For the 2019-20 winter season, avalanche danger ratings will be issued for the Olympics every Friday through Sunday and during mid-week holidays. During the week, No Rating will be issued but forecasts will include expected conditions and relevant travel advice.  If you are out in the Olympics, share your backcountry observations with us and the greater community.

New Regional Synopsis coming soon. We update the Regional Synopsis every Thursday at 6 pm.