In areas with a supportable crust in the morning, expect the danger to increase with midday warming, and in areas without one, danger may reach the high end of Moderate. If you punch through a crust, feel more than 2" of sticky snow or see rollerballs, move to lower angled slopes or shady ones.
This forecast is sponsored by Skjersaa Group | Homes for Sale Central, OR | Central, OR Real Estate
You can find fun corn riding when the sun softens the top 1" or so above a frozen crust. When the sun bakes it to a gloppy 2-4" or ankle-deep mush, natural or human-triggered wet loose are possible.
If the surface didn't freeze overnight, it won't be safe or fun. If you see rollerballs or pinwheels, or punch through the crust below, move to non-avalanche terrain or shady aspects.
Snowpack: Observers from the past few days in the Halfway and Burger Butte areas of the S Wallowas found soft slabs (12-18") and small to large wet loose avalanches that naturally released from Sunday/Monday's rain on snow event. Significantly, there have been no crowns reported in the 3-4' range or very large (D3+) debris piles that would indicate a persistent slab avalanche on our January facets layer. As a result of this lack of activity under major loading, we have decided to move our persistent slab problem to "dormant" or unlisted.
Moderate wind gusts may shift some snow in the alpine, but there is limited snow available for transport, so any windslabs would likely be small.
What to do: Soft, dry snow still exists in sheltered, shady and lower angled slopes mostly above 7000'. Watch out for overhead hazards, especially with midday warming.
Add value to your forecast. Visibility is excellent, so please send photos and details of recent wet avalanches, old crowns and debris from the Atmospheric River Sunday, or just rollerballs and drooping cornices. Submit an observation here.
