Stevens Pass

Expect another cold, quiet day with sunny skies. Challenging travel on firm, icy snow is a greater concern than avalanches in many locations. Use caution in steep terrain where a slip or small, isolated avalanche could lead to an uncontrolled fall. 

Saturday will be another cool, clear day. If you can deal with the sound of the loud snow, it'll be a beautiful day to be in the mountains. 

In general, there's little concern for avalanches. At upper elevations, there's a chance that you could trigger small chunks of wind-drifted snow in isolated areas. In steep high-consequence terrain, consider that even small amounts of moving snow could push you into an uncontrolled fall.

On Saturday, NWAC forecasters went to Jim Hill. On shaded slopes, they found soft conditions where the recent snow rested on the 1/10 interface over a crust. They were able to find a very small, isolated pocket of unstable snow, but the resulting mini-avalanche was inconsequential. Many slopes are firm from wind affect or covered in icy crusts. Expect very rough, icy surfaces in the trees. Observers have reported surface hoar on the current surface of many slopes.

Conditions haven't changed much since mid-week. On January 10-11th, 8-9" of snow and strong westerly winds brought very reactive avalanche conditions that stuck around into the work-week. On the 14th and 15th, small wet avalanches were reported on steep southerly slopes with warm temperatures and sun. Also during this time, the crusts formed that now adorn many slopes. On Thursday, the 16th, a skiff of new snow fell with strong winds. There was minimal snow available to drift. Friday and Saturday brought more sun than clouds. Cool temperatures kept surfaces cold and crusts firm even on the sunniest slopes.

Let us know what you see when you're in the mountains by submitting an observation.