East Slopes Central

Cloudy skies, strong winds, and mild temperatures likely won’t do much to change the snowpack or create any meaningful avalanche hazards. If the storm comes in earlier than expected, you might encounter blowing snow and a few very small wind slabs.

Even though a storm is raging in the northern part of the region it likely won’t make it to the East Central zone until very late in the day or even overnight. The biggest impacts on Sunday will be cloudy skies and gusty winds. Even if the snow surface isn’t frozen, this should help keep it from getting too wet, soggy, and unstable. 

If you’re in the far northern part of the zone near Stihekin or if the storm arrives early, you could see an inch or so of new snow during the day. The wind will surely blow this new snow around, but it will probably struggle to build a slab of any real size. Even in places where there’s soft snow, it’s been impacted by the wind several times and most windward slopes are already stripped bare. 

At lower elevations and on shaded slopes, the snow surface may not crust over. In the nearby Snoqualmie zone, blobs of snow shed off cliffs Saturday during similar conditions and caused small wet loose slides. If the snow is soft and sticky and temperatures feel warm, be mindful about what’s above your head. 

Over the past week’s warm and often sunny weather, the snow surface became very aspect and elevation dependent. On southerly terrain, a stout melt-freeze crust formed. These slopes might be smooth and slick in some areas. A simple slip could quickly turn into an uncontrolled slide. Soft dry snow seems limited to higher elevation shaded aspects. In these areas, a few inches of new snow sat over a thinner crust. 

At the moment, all of our avalanche concerns exist at the snow surface and within any new snow that falls. If you dig, you’ll likey find old wet snow and possibly even the old persistent weak layers (JDL). These layers have gained strength and often lay below very strong protective crust. The only exception could be in the far northern end of the zone. Persistent slabs continue to be a concern in the adjacent East North forecast area. If you’re traveling near this boundary, take this avalanche problem into consideration before stepping into big northerly avalanche terrain.

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