Avalanche Forecast

Here we go again - a frontal system will bring another round of snowfall to the Mt. Baker area Tuesday with the potential for 10-15 inches of snow during the day.  There should be less wind and warming versus Sunday's system, but the additional loading on the back of this already active storm cycle will once again ramp up the avalanche danger in the Mt. Baker area Tuesday. Backcountry travel in avalanche terrain should be avoided Tuesday. 

Recent storm instabilities have not had time to settle and stabilize. Storm slabs will entrain copious amounts of recent snowfall, quickly becoming large and dangerous. 

Recent wind slabs lurk beneath the lower density snow at all elevations. Many of these older wind slabs are very deep. Fresh or deeper recent wind slabs may produce large or even very large avalanches, entraining significant amounts of loose dry snow.

Be aware of overhead terrain where avalanches may run well into the tracks and runouts. Very dangerous avalanche conditions will continue with the possibility for very large and destructive avalanches on Tuesday.

Deep snow exists throughout the Mt Baker area. Snow immersion and tree-well hazards continue to increase and pose significant danger. Maintain constant communication with your travel partners.

A very active weather pattern over the last week continues to target the Mt Baker area. More than 5 feet of snow sits above the most recent melt-freeze crust - it is deep out there!  The most recent storm cycle wrapped up Sunday night with cooler temperatures, light winds and snow showers adding an additional 8 inches Monday. 

Besides the consistent moderate to heavy snowfall seen during Sunday's storm, strong winds transported snow forming wind slabs on a variety of aspects. Many of these wind slabs are very deep. Storm slabs were easy to trigger on Sunday and again on Monday. 

Poor visibility and frequent storm conditions have limited observations above treeline during this period. 

Observations: 

An avalanche professional in the Glacier Creek area reported little wind and occasionally heavy snow showers on Monday. A reactive storm layer within the most recent storm snow allowed storm slabs of 6-10" to be easily triggered on all aspects up to 5600'.  A few natural storm slabs were observed as well. 

On Monday morning, Mt. Baker pro-patrol reported control results producing widespread and easily-triggered 1'+ soft slab or loose dry avalanches that broke wide and ran far.  Poor visibility prevented observations into the surrounding backcountry terrain.