East Slopes North

Watch for changing weather conditions later in the day as showers bring a fresh coating of snow and winds to the mountains. You're unlikely to trigger an avalanche in older wind-drifted snow at mid and upper elevations.  In more sheltered, shady terrain, small loose dry avalanches may run fast on very steep slopes.  

After another cool night with lows in the upper teens to mid 20s near Washington Pass, mid-elevation temperatures pushed into the 30s through early Saturday afternoon with a fair bit of morning sunshine, before increasing clouds helped cool temperatures off later in the day.   After several days of sunshine and diurnal spring temperature swings, you're likely to encounter variable surface conditions, including newly formed surface crusts, with conditions varying across aspect and elevation. 

It's been several days since a slab avalanche, natural or human-triggered, has been reported. Earlier in the week, winds had built slabs over a crust/potential weak layer primarily on northerly aspects. On the 24th, there were reports of natural avalanches on this crust, and on the 25th, observers reported ongoing signs of instability at upper elevations.  Small wet loose avalanches were observed on Thursday in the Hwy20 corridor.  In sheltered areas at mid and upper elevations, ~8-14" of settled storm snow from last week sits above the most recent crust.  

Snow cover is thin on southerly slopes and at low elevations. Be aware of exposed rocks and open creeks. WSDOT has begun plowing operations on Hwy 20 between Silver Star trailhead and Newhalem. The road will be closed to all traffic on weekdays while workers and machinery are operating.