Eastside Region

Triggering an avalanche is unlikely, but not impossible. Be on the lookout for wind-stiffened and cracking snow surfaces on slopes adjacent to ridgelines, in couloirs, and mid-slope gullies. Getting knocked off your feet or hitting a shallowly buried obstacle in extreme terrain can still have severe consequences. 

Our snowpack is generally stable, with surfaces varying from wind-scoured, textured, and wind-packed in more exposed areas to an assortment of melt-freeze crusts on solars. On some very protected northerlies, faceted soft surfaces can still be found.  After a short and wet storm brought a brief wintry mix of precipitation up to 9400' yesterday, our already variable surface conditions shifted once more. Now add a handful of varying thickness rain crusts down to road level to the mix, and we have a grab bag of fun. Despite making for athletic skiing and riding conditions that'll keep you on your toes, the takeaway here is that the new snow coming tomorrow will bond differently to each of these surfaces. We're back to another day of tranquil weather before a storm that's slated to bring notable amounts (at least for our season so far!) of snow to our forecast area. 

While it's unlikely to trigger an avalanche today, it's not impossible to kick off isolated, small old wind-deposited snow drifts in confined terrain features today. Be sure to evaluate terrain on a feature-by-feature basis, noting that even very small slides or hitting shallowly buried obstacles in steep and/or extreme terrain can still have consequences.

Today's calm weather brings an opportunity to head into the mountains with the mindset of taking inventory of what the new snow will fall on. An observer's mindset today will reward the adventure seeker's mindset in the coming week. Keep your eyes open, tips up, and enjoy the light winds while they last.