Avalanche Forecast

An upper ridge will reassert itself over the US coastal waters on Saturday. Northwest flow and moisture should decrease a bit over the Olympics and Cascades. Clouds should decrease a bit during the day and lead to some partly sunny weather especially in the south and east of the crest.

Watch for lingering wind slab from early in the week where the northeast winds redistributed snow mainly near and above treeline.

Sun crusts, while not an avalanche danger on Saturday, are likely on steep south slopes where the sun warmed the snow on Wednesday and Thursday.

Right side up stable powder may also still be found on shaded sheltered slopes on Saturday.

Heads up in advance for Sunday when moderate to heavy snow with warming should bring a significantly increasing avalanche danger.

A storm system hit the Northwest last weekend with strong west to northwest winds. The NWAC site at Hurricane picked up about 12 inches of storm snow with a good cooling trend. Strong northeast winds hit at the tail end of the storm Monday and Tuesday. This transported snow and formed some local wind slab on exposed slopes and near ridges. But in most areas this layer bonded well and lacked underlying weak layers.

An upper ridge over the coastal waters tilted inland Wednesday and Thursday producing sunny weather and warm temperatures at higher elevations. NWAC observer Tyler Reid was at Hurricane Ridge on Wednesday and reported widespread small wet loose avalanches. Snow on north slopes was more wind affected but he rated slab layers as unlikely. A 3 cm thick graupel layer was seen at 10 cm below the surface which could be something to watch on shaded slopes.

Graupel layer at Hurricane on Wednesday by Tyler Reid.

A weak front is crossing the Northwest on Friday. This may cause some light snow and will bring cooling. The minor new snow if any Friday should not cause significant new layers.

At Hurricane where there is significant snow a strong mid and lower snowpack is expected.