Central Cascades

Avalanches will be unlikely on Tuesday as we continue to see cool and dry weather.  Even when the danger is Low, it is prudent to keep your eyes open for pockets of instability, and to use safe travel techniques like riding slopes one at a time.

If you were out riding during the last 3 or 4 days, you can expect similar conditions on Tuesday.  Our snow surfaces vary widely with sunny slopes sporting crust, most alpine slopes are extremely wind effected, and the snow under the trees is pretty icy.  I have still been finding cold dry snow below treeline on shady, open slopes, but after 2 weeks it is getting harder to find slopes that aren't tracked!  Today I observed lots of faceting in the surface snow on north slopes at and below treeline, but without a slab overlaying this weak snow it doesn't present an avalanche problem.

I'm optimistic that as temperatures rise throughout the week, we will see better riding on sunny slopes.