Avalanche Forecast

Mostly sunny Sunday with increasing high clouds late, remaining cool with light winds. This should allow for further settlement of any recently formed wind slabs. Winds slabs will remain the primary concern Sunday, so pay attention to the recent local loading pattern in your area, but generally expect non-traditional westerly aspects to be the most suspect. Wind slabs may have formed further downslope of areas of stronger winds, a fact that may not be apparent until you've already committed to a slope.  

Due to the low snowpack, especially below treeline, watch for terrain hazards such as open creeks, partially covered rocks and vegetation. Many areas below treeline do not have enough snow (new or existing) to pose an avalanche hazard. 

A warm and wet start to February was followed by mostly fair weather through mid-February, leading to generally thick surface crusts, as well as further deterioration of the snow cover below treeline. 

By early Saturday, NWAC snowdepth sensor readings increased about 3-7 inches from the new snow that accumulated Thursday night and Friday at Mission Ridge. These new snowfall amounts were likely representative of most of east slope locations above 4000 ft.

From early Friday through Saturday morning, moderate to strong east winds were beginning significant snow transport near treeline and fresh wind slabs were likely developing, especially on westerly aspects. NE winds were very strong on Mission Ridge through Saturday, so watch for evidence of recent wind loading, such as exposed windward slopes and windward sides of trees stripped of recent snow.

While the January 15th facet/crust layers can still be identified in parts of the NE Cascades, this persistent weak layer has been stabilizing and become unlikely to trigger. As a result the Persistent Slab problem has been removed from the northeast zone.