Avalanche Forecast

Another day of weak flow aloft and cool snow levels with mainly afternoon/evening shower activity is expected Sunday.  New snow amounts are expected to be light Saturday night and Sunday.     

There haven't been many reports of wind slab, but isolated pockets of wind slab may linger on traditional lee westerly aspects from recent storms near and above treeline.  

It's April, so be aware of increased solar input reaching more aspects and affecting the snow surface more quickly than winter-time. Loose wet avalanches involving recent storm snow will be possible Sunday. Varying amounts of cloud cover Sunday will make the regional loose wet likelihood hard to pin down. 

Small loose dry avalanches are also possible on non-solar aspects. Loose dry avalanches won't be listed as a top avalanche problem, but be aware of fast moving sluffs knocking you off your feet and into unintended terrain traps on steeper slopes. 

Due to the continued cool weather, cornices won't be listed as an avalanche problem either but use caution on slopes below cornices and on ridges where it can be hard to know if a cornice is present.

The recent active weather since about mid March onward has brought periodic light snowfalls east of the crest and allowed general snowpack consolidation and stabilization. 

During the fair and mild weather Monday Mar 30th, DOT avalanche professionals working in the Washington Pass area triggered slides using explosives. Wet slab avalanches entrained moist snow in the Liberty Bell paths and buried the closed highway with about 8 ft of debris. Little natural avalanche activity was observed in the area during this time period. 

A front moved across the Northwest Tuesday followed by showers and rapid cooling but caused little snow east of the crest expect locally downwind of a convergence zone centered on Snoqualmie Pass.

A TAY report from Mt. Stuart Thursday reported 6-12" of unconsolidated snow even on solar aspects above treeline, likely a benefactor of Tuesday night's convergence zone. NWAC observer Jeremy Allyn was at Washington Pass on Friday and found about an inch of recent snow on a thick crust that needed additional loading to become problematic, however about an inch or less fell Friday night along the east slopes. 

Snowdepths vary greatly across the east slopes with a regionally healthy snowpack in the northeast Cascades to bare solar and lower elevation slopes in the central and southeast Cascades. Many areas at lower elevations and further away from the Cascade crest do not have enough snow to cause an avalanche danger.