West Slopes South

Springtime weather will maintain generally safe avalanche conditions. Thursday's bump in temperature will slightly increase the chance of snow shedding from rocks and cliffs, cornices collapsing, and isolated wet avalanche activity. As the day heats up, keep an eye on suspect terrain.

Springtime weather continues, with Wednesday bringing a ~5-10F bump in temperatures compared to Tuesday. Clear skies overnight provided a productive refreeze of surfaces, which eventually softened midday Wednesday. An NWAC forecaster in the Tatoosh Range experienced generally firm but edgeable surfaces on northerlies, with the best softening on south/southwest slopes. Softening was restricted to the top couple of inches of the snowpack. No new avalanches were reported.

Thursday will bring a repeat of Wednesday, except for another bump in temperatures, up to 10F warmer than previously. Even with the warm-up, we don't expect any significant change in snow stability, but you might find small and isolated wet-snow activity. These slides are most likely to occur on sunny slopes around warming rocks and cliffs, and areas with a lot of sun reflection, like snow-covered bowl features on the volcanoes. We haven’t seen many cornices collapsing recently, but it’s that time of year when it won’t take much for them to crack and fall. If you’re traveling near ridgelines, give cornices a little extra space. Lastly, there are still large patches of snow clinging to rocks and cliffs. At some point, that snow has to fall, and I’d bet it’s sooner rather than later. Limit your time beneath this type of terrain.

Snow coverage is getting pretty patchy at low elevations. If you're planning a trip that requires a lot of low-elevation travel, consider bringing some walking shoes along, and plan a little extra time to navigate the resurfacing obstacles and creeks.