Avalanche forecast

Central Cascades

Central Oregon Avalanche Center
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Avalanche danger

Alpine
2 · Moderate
Treeline
1 · Low
Below
1 · Low
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Out of date — this forecast expired 5 years ago. You’re viewing past conditions, not the current bulletin.

Highlights

A sunny and calm weekend has likely allowed the snow from last Friday to settle, and I'm not expecting to see much avalanche activity.  The exception is in alpine terrain where the wind has been strong enough to move snow.  If you are skiing up high continue to watch for unstable snow on specific terrain features (North and East slopes).  

Avalanche problems

  • Wind Slabs

    • Alpine
    • Treeline
    • Below treeline
    Likelihood
    Possible
    Size
    1–2

    Could we please just have one avalanche forecast without a Wind Slab problem?  Almost, but not quite!  While this weekend was predominently Calm, I was still observing blowing snow in the alpine, so the Wind Slab problem remains.  I would expect any Wind Slabs to be stubborn and specific to slopes with a large fetch (area to pull snow from).  Wind Slabs will continue to be most probable on steep, convex North and East slopes.

    It's always a good idea to evaluate potentially loaded aspects on less steep, safer slopes.

Avalanche Discussion

Friday's Strong West wind, followed by a sunny, near freezing weekend, have left us with a variety of snow surfaces depending on aspect.  Any recent avalanche activity was initiating in the most recent storm snow, and should be wrapping up as we come into Monday and the latest snow has had time to settle.  There was small surface hoar observed throughout the range today, but most of it likely melted with the exception of North slopes.  We haven't had any observations of significant persistent weak layers in our snowpack.

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