Warm temperatures and rain have created difficult riding conditions: heavy down low and icy/crusty up high.
Confidence
Moderate - Due to the number of field observations
Weather Forecast
Monday: Mainly cloudy with some light rain (3-5mm) or wet flurries (2-5cm snow) / Light westerly winds / Freezing level near 1200mTuesday: Flurries (5-10 cm of snow possible) / Light north west winds / Freezing level 900mWednesday: 5-15mm of rain / Light southwest winds / Freezing level 1000m rising to 2000m
Avalanche Summary
No new avalanches were reported on Sunday.
Snowpack Summary
Rain and warm temperatures throughout the weekend saturated the upper snowpack. At treeline and below, approximately 20cm of wet snow overlies either a crust or moist snow from Monday's rain event a week ago. In high alpine areas like Sky Pilot and the Chehalis Range the more recent (saturated) snow has refrozen into a solid crust.The mid and lower snowpack are well consolidated with no significant layers of concern.
Problems
Cornices
Cornice Fall is the release of an overhanging mass of snow that forms as the wind moves snow over a sharp terrain feature, such as a ridge, and deposits snow on the downwind (leeward) side. Cornices range in size from small wind drifts of soft snow to large overhangs of hard snow that are 30 feet (10 meters) or taller. They can break off the terrain suddenly and pull back onto the ridge top and catch people by surprise even on the flat ground above the slope. Even small cornices can have enough mass to be destructive and deadly. Cornice Fall can entrain loose surface snow or trigger slab avalanches.